Silent Hill: Spiritual Dissonance
by Efrit
Summary: An original Silent Hill story dealing with the issues of self-depreciation, surpassing trauma, and learning to forgive oneself.
1. Prologue

Silent Hill: Spiritual Dissonance  
Prologue  
By John Priest

* * *

An isolated Moon illuminates the sky above the quiet, small town of Silent Hill. An old black car glides upon the pavement of the interstate road, its headlights penetrating the darkness ahead of it. The driver is tired; having endured fifteen hours of driving through an unknown number of miles, passing countless road lights, and barely remembering the blurs that were the cars he has passed. His eyes close many times, the siren's call of sleep trying to reel him in. But he perseveres through the want, knowing that the time for rest will be available soon. Following his GPS, he takes a right and goes down the exit into Silent Hill.

As he drives down the road, he turns on his mp3 player, putting on a music track to help him cope with the journey into Silent Hill. He taps his finger to the tune as it plays, enjoying the warm notes of the music. He then drives through a small bridge with a tunnel over it, passing through it quickly and entering Midway Avenue. As he drives through the street, the scent of saw dust faintly touches his nose as he passes by, vaguely reminding him of better days. A time when he was closer to his father, enjoying woodworking itself due to having a fondness for craftsmanship. But now, those days seem so distant from the present.

After stopping at a red light and watching a couple cars pass by, the man continues on his silent voyage. But as quickly as he passes the turn into Canyon Street, he stops. He is enveloped in nostalgia as he notices a sight he hasn't glanced upon in years: A pet shop, just like the one his grandfather ran, back when the man was young. He turns off his engine and gets out of the car, closing the door out of habit. He walks up to the door of the shop, seeing the owner closing up and coming towards the entrance. He is too busy remembering bygone days to notice her, touching the window glass.  
The middle-aged woman opens the door and walks through it, stopping next to the man and asking "Anything I can help you with before I go home sir?"

The man is thrust out of his memories by the woman's words, replying "Ah…no. I'm sorry; this shop just reminded me of my grandfathers back in Ashfield…" reflecting quite the doleful expression.

"But there hasn't been a pet shop in Ashfield for years." trails off the lady

"Didn't say I've been there recently ma'am" counters the man respectfully

"Oh…I'm sorry, I didn't realize who you referred to. It has been so long since that dark day, that I've nearly forgotten it…" the woman looking down at the ground, ashamed of her daftness. But the man just smiles "Don't dwell on it, it has been quite some time ma'am, I wouldn't expect anyone but my fellow family members to remember Papa Steve".

"The entire spree itself was chaotic, what was worse is that I knew little Walter. He was such an innocent man; I still don't understand what compelled him to kill all those people." Reminisces the woman

"I heard he killed himself out of guilt, blaming the entire thing on some strange red devil. Whatever was the case, he didn't seem mentally normal. I don't blame him, I just hope he finds peace in the afterlife" states the man, pitying Walter Sullivan.

"As do I. Well, this has been a nice, if a bit sad, chat. Good day…" begins the lady, "Garland."

"Ah, have a good day . I hope you enjoy our quiet little town." Replies the lady as she turns around and leaves. Mr. Garland takes one last look at the Pet store, seeing the name "Veronica's Friends" on the window glass as he starts walking back to his car. He then sets off from the pet store, driving for a couple miles before pulling into the parking lot of the Riverside Motel.

Mr. Garland steps out of his car, closing the door and going to the back to get his spare clothes. He shuts the trunk and locks the car doors, carrying the suitcase that contains his clothing with his left hand. Mr. Garland walks his way to the reception office and enters through the door. Inside, the interior is rather homely. Green carpet lines the floor below a lone ceiling fan, spinning moderately as time passes by. Mr. Garland walks to the receptionist, waving casually "Any rooms left?" "Yeah, name?" questions the man behind the counter. "Garland. John Garland". "Alright Mr. Garland, here's your key, room is near the pool, 104, can't miss it." Explains the receptionist, John nods in appreciation and exits the office.  
He manages to find his way to the pool, noticing the faint glimmer of moon light reflecting off of the surface of the aqua water.

Afterwards, he locates his apartment and unlocks the door, entering the temporary abode. He turns on the light, throwing his clothes onto the bed as he takes off his coat. He takes in a deep, long breath and sighs. What could this town really offer him in regards to closure? Last time he was here, Liasah died and he was left with hypothermia. This town, from what he knows, doesn't have a good history, especially for his bloodline. His aunt, alongside a good number of the Alchemila Hospital staff, disappeared before he was born. The last thing his mother heard from her sister was in letter asking her for money. After she disappeared, his grandfather wasn't the same. Depression fits hit him constantly, but from his young age, John could never tell that the happy, playful man his grandpa Steve seemed to be, was really a ruse to keep his family from worrying.

When he was killed by that poor man, it hit the family hard. John's mother sank into her own sadness, while his father tried his best to make her happy. Time passed, but old wounds never truly seal and as such, his mother never really recovered. She was always nice, always making time for John and his sister Tina, but as he grew older, John could see the sorrow perpetrating throughout her frail being. When he told his family where he was going, they were adamantly against it. Bringing up various examples to try and dissuade him, but in the end, he couldn't be swayed. Before he left though, his mother kissed him goodbye and told him to be safe.

He casually undresses as he heads into the shower, hoping for some solace in the relaxing embrace of its warm water. He gets just that, cleaning up and putting on his undergarments once he was done cleaning himself. After drying his hair, he locks the door to the outside and closes the curtains, not wishing for any disruptions. He turns on the television as he lies down upon the bed, having placed his clothes on a nearby chair. After watching for an hour or so, John turns it off. Nothing entertaining was on, no movies either due to the cheap cable the motel uses. As he gazes into the darkness above him, he silently wishes for some closure as he nods off and slips into a deep slumber.


	2. Chapter 1

Silent Hill: Spiritual Dissonance  
Chapter 1  
By John Priest

* * *

The night passes as dawn's light breaks through its shroud. John awakens shortly after this has occurred, being accustomed to waking up on his own. Though disoriented momentarily due to a long rest, the fog clouding his mind soon dissipates as he goes to the bathroom and splashes hot water onto his face. He takes his time as he puts on his clothing, trying to watch some T.V. as he does so, but only receiving static on the set. Since it was working fine last night, this perplexes John. But he just shrugs it off and gathers his things, distancing the issue far from his mind as he leaves. Upon opening the door to the outside, he is hit with a full visual blast of mist. He struggles out into the open, trying hard to see through the thick haze but finding his efforts to be impeded by the shear mass of the fog. He takes a moment to gather his thoughts before settling on trying to make his way through the mist, slowly yet surely, in order to get to the receptionist.

The first thing he notices as he further strays from his temporary abode is that the water in the pool has disappeared. As he comes closer to inspect this mysterious phenomenon, he is pushed into the pool by some invisible force and lands stomach first on the concrete of the pool's floor. It takes him a moment to pull himself together before flipping over to his back and looking at where he used to be, trying to see who or what may have pushed him "Hello, is anyone there?".  
But no one responds, his words echoing out into the open air as he lies there. He motions to stand, but his hand hits something metallic. He looks behind him to see what it is, coming across the head of a shovel. Bewildered by this, he grabs hold of it and grasps the accompanying handle of the shovel. Using it as a tool, he helps himself up and further ponders why the shovel was inside the pool. Could the shovel been thrown in here by some misbegotten child? Did the handyman forget it after cleaning the pool?

Unconcerned with what exactly occurred, John decides to take hold of the shovel and bring it to the receptionist. With the shovel in hand, John climbs out of the pool and heads toward the exit. Once pass the gate, John makes his way towards the back entrance to the receptionist. On his way, he notices how the area is eerily quiet. No crickets chirping, no birds singing, not even the occasional sounds of motorists passing by are heard. Just silence, as if someone had sucked the life out of the land. When he arrives at the door, he knocks to be courteous but as his knuckles strike the door, it opens with a creek.  
"Hello? Sir, are you in here?" says John as he slowly moves through the threshold of the door, but no one responds.  
He notices a faint glow of light in the corner of his right eye, emanating from underneath a blanket near the cash register. He hesitates for a moment, unsure of what to do since he may be committing theft, but he proceeds anyway. He finds a flashlight, similar to the one a fireman would use.

As he clips it onto the front pocket of his jacket, his ears pick up soft footsteps creeping behind him and he turns around, noticing a faint shadow move out of his sight. He starts to utter out a soft hello, but is stopped when he hears laughter from behind. He turns around in a sharp motion, but once more finds nothing. Not even with the help of his new flashlight could he find anything. It's as if someone is playing a joke on him, constantly toying with his mind. He moves to the main area of the reception office, trying to see if there was some hidden speaker but he finds nothing. His elbows are racked with goose bumps as he stands alone inside the office, feeling on-edge due to the dreadful ambiance. The silent atmosphere is broken at once by a sorrowful sobbing, John moving his head towards the sound as it permeates throughout the seemingly vacant office.

He cautiously makes his way towards the door to the management, unsure of what may await him. His experience so far has led him to doubt his very senses, but he has hope that he may find another soul in this empty place. As he opens the door, the sobbing becomes more audible. When he looks inside, his heart warms up when he sees another human being: a sobbing young woman.  
"Ms. Are you okay?" questions John as he walks towards her, but he stops when he notices the temperature rising drastically.  
He starts to ask another question, but stops, stepping backwards when he notices the woman's hair beginning to fall off in clumps. She rises as if she was nothing more than a puppet, the strings being all that support her. As she twists around inhumanly, her bones crack like leaves under a boot, her sobbing becoming shriller and shriller as each movement racks her body with unimaginable torment.

John's eyes open in shock as the woman's skin darkens to a charcoal black, all possible fat melting off in a disgusting miasma. The stench of the dissipating fat causes his stomach to lurch suddenly, sickening John as he continues to back away, stupefied. Suddenly, The Inflamed Lady lets out a horrendous shriek and hurls out a stream of flames at John, who barely manages to dodge the stream, hurling himself to the right, through the door, and back into the reception office. He scrambles to stand as he hears the creature move towards him. His heart pounds within his chest at the sudden intrusion of violence, but he manages to keep a clear mind and focuses on tactics. Once he's on his legs, he closes the door before The Inflamed Lady could get close enough, hiding to the right of the door with shovel in hand. It is not long before flames burst through the door, the creature limping rapidly through the threshold of the door. John slams the shovel's head right into the creatures face, throwing it onto its back and scattering pieces of skin across the floor. Reacting swiftly, John takes the shovel and slams the sharp end onto the neck of The Inflamed Lady, decapitating the creature and ending the threat to his well-being.

All John can do for a short period of time is look at the remains of the abnormal beast. How its expression is mired in pain, its body a visual testament to the torment it felt in existence itself. Seeing no further reason to inspect them, he leaves the remains behind, venturing further into the office to see if anything may be there. It is behind the desk that he catches sight of a grisly scene: The remains of what seems to be the receptionist who he last saw a night ago, torn apart by something sharp and the insides charred throughout his body. John notices a map on the man's person, but hesitates due to a fear of disrespecting the dead. In the end, he decides to take the map, opening it up to see "Midwich University" circled. Confused, John places the map in his left pocket and leaves the area. Heading towards the parking lot, he hopes to escape this nightmare.


	3. Chapter 2

Silent Hill: Spiritual Dissonance  
Chapter 2  
By John Priest

* * *

Upon locating his car, John immediately goes for the driver's seat. He tries in vain to start the car but not even a single crank is heard, confronting him with a vile truth: He is stuck inside this perplexing realm of demented ambiance. He falls down onto the driver's seat with a dismayed expression, the future unclear inside his head. His encounter with The Inflamed Lady left him perturbed, not enough to scar him for life but enough to engrave itself on the annals of his memories. He's seen no sign of passive life yet, having only been taunted by the agonizing silence which comprises the atmosphere surrounding him. He knows something is wrong; the past event is a clear indication of that.  
The warnings of his family come back to haunt him "Should've listened to them…" sighing after he says this, realizing how trapped he may be.  
He remains mostly motionless, trying to construct some sort of course for the future.

That is when he remembers the map he found inside the manager's office. He shuffles around in the seat as he adjusts himself so he can acquire the map, taking hold of it and bringing it out into the open. He re-locates the location that was marked, pertaining to the ideal of setting it as his destination. But he has concerns for such an action, feeling that he may be walking into some sort of trap conceived by a mastermind, who may have caused his current dilemma. He's just unsure of what to do: Does he follow a map that he found, which could lead him into a trap? Or does he ignore it and chance the possibility of being stuck in this place, forever? He wipes his forehead with his right palm, taking in a big breath of air as he decides on what to do.

He steps out of his car, shutting the door and leaving it behind as he walks through the gate and into Riverside Drive. With only a shovel for physical protection, John cautiously makes his away to the Blue Catfish Diner. He hasn't had anything to eat nor drink since he awoke and some sustenance would help calm his nerves. When he gets to the front door, he finds it locked. A tad bit annoyed but resourceful, he looks around before he uses his shovel to break the door open. While it was a bit unethical, he doubts anyone trapped in his position would argue against it. Once inside, he searches for the kitchen in order to get a drink or something.

As he ventures forth into the empty diner, a shadow flies swiftly behind him. He quickly turns around to try and catch a glimpse of the figure, but it is already too late. Whatever it was, it was swift. He forces himself to let this go, thinking it to be another false threat to his safety like before. With that, he finds the kitchen, locating it next to the area where you'd usually find the cashier. Disheartened to find that this place is also empty, he continues forward into the kitchen. Inside, he manages to locate the refrigerator, opening it to find a pitcher of tea along with some crumpets. He takes them outside the kitchen, setting them on the counter nearby as he picks up a cup from the supplies.

He pours himself a glass of cold Ice-tea, sipping it casually as he munches on a crumpet.  
Putting the tea down to further consume the crumpets, he notices something strange.  
"F…K in my tea." He just shrugs it off and continues sipping it casually.  
He finishes the meager meal soon after locating it, his nerves calming down due to the relaxed atmosphere around him. He ponders on what may await him at Midwich University, wondering what makes it so significant to whoever marked it on the map. He places the dishes inside the dishwasher, putting the pitcher back into the refrigerator he found it in.

He decides to put ten dollars inside the cash register, hoping that it'd be enough to cover the crumpets he ate alongside the three glasses of ice-tea. He puts his wallet back into his pocket, grasping the shovel with his left hand as he moves forward. He sneezes as he makes his way through the diner, the dusty covering inside the bar aggravating his sinuses. As he passes the windows leading to the exit, he again notices a blurred shadow. Something's amiss: whatever it may be, he remains cautious. He walks out of the diner on alert, switching the Shovel to his right hand.

After consorting his map, he heads down Toluca Avenue, taking a right when he comes to the turn leading into Midwich University's Faculty Parking. The South Park Area, back when he visited with Liasah, had just gone through the things necessary to turn it into The Midwich University. Formally, it was a forested strip of land, reserved for those who wished to take in the scenery. It was changed due to the decrease in tourism, which, while still greatly beneficial, had been steadily declining in recent years. Now the University rests there, located near a book store, motels, and diners. Logically, the University was placed in a prime spot. It garnered some spite, but the complaints were snuffed out by the majority of the community. Tourism had always been an important aspect for Silent Hill's economy. Alongside the medical facilities, it was really all this rural-urban mixture of a town could offer up to modern society.

As John nears the back entrance to the university, he begins to hear a faint caw-like sound around him, as if some misshapen chimera of human and bird was crying out in pain. Knowing that whatever is emitting the sound is not a real creature, he begins to fasten the pace of his walking. The calls continue to ring throughout the silent atmosphere, slowly growing in numbers as he nears the entrance. It takes one glance behind him to unease his nerves: figures gliding his way as he continues forward. The figures phase in and out of reality itself, appearing in front of John out of nowhere. Not willing to chance a group encounter, he starts running. This only serves to agitate the beasts, which start to call out in union at him. He makes it to the door before being thrown to the ground by an attacking Necrotic Avian.

The beast tries to bite patches of skin off of John, but only scratches parts of his cheek with its crooked teeth. He manages to throw the creature off of himself, using the shovel as a form of defense tool. He is able to get up first before the fell creature, gripping the shovel firmly as he brings it above his head and slams it down onto the beast's misshapen head. The head easily shatters due to how brittle its skull is, giving John time to charge through the back entrance and into the University. Once inside, he sigh's a breath of relaxation before he hears the chilling scream of a woman echoing throughout the building.


	4. Chapter 3

Silent Hill: Spiritual Dissonance  
Chapter 3  
By John Priest

* * *

The unexpected wail catches John off guard, his primal reactions stirring inside. He starts to run towards the sound, but his encounter with The Inflamed Lady has left him cautious to unforeseen events, causing him to momentarily hesitate. A second grave cry brings John into action, deciding not to ignore someone who may be in danger. The woman's screams echo throughout the empty, ghost-like hallways of Midwich University. Each individual shriek of terror reeks of the gravest of fears, as if whoever is being assaulted is being immolated alive. As the screams continue, they accumulate on top of John's composure. Goose bumps arising on his arms as he faces the force of the shrieks. John tries to track down the source of the wails, following how loud the sound becomes, but his efforts are impeded by the sheer mass of the hallways themselves.

Then, the wails stop. John's body is overcome with dread, the ghastly realization that he is too late, accompanied by the hollowing absence of body heat. His hands clench in anger, his self-control barely able to contain the massive self-depreciation inside him. Thoughts arise on how he let the past control the present, condemning an innocent woman to death because he could not get past his encounter with The Inflamed Lady. He walks past a set of stairs, his eyes devoid of emotion. Across from an office he slumps to the floor, his back against the adjacent wall. His head falls back, hitting the brick behind him. He closes his eyes and takes in a deep breath, exhaling slowly before stopping all of a sudden: His ears are once more greeted with the shrill wail of the unknown woman.

His body is rejuvenated by this sound, his mind filled with a single emotion: Hope. He springs up from his spot, hearing the scream emanate from the office nearby. He dashes forth towards the door knob, taking a hold of it and throwing it open in one swift movement. Upon crossing through the door's threshold, John is greeted by a nauseatingly horrific site: A creature of organic composition is on top of a screaming woman, lashing out at her face with three whip-like tongues, apparently trying to rip off her clothing with a large third arm, located exactly on the crotch area. His stomach lurches at the site of this attempted defilement, but he forces it under control through his will power.

Grasping the handle of his shovel firmly, John charges towards the foul beast.  
The creature barely notices John coming towards it, turning its head to hear John say "Get off her!" and slam the flat side of his shovel right into its head, forcing the creature off of the unknown woman, whom quickly crawls away and huddles herself beside a coach.  
John makes sure she is in a safe location before directing his attention back onto The Dark Desire, which has scrambled back to its feet, launching its tendril-like tongues at John. He rolls to his right, dodging most of the tongues but still getting lashed across his cheek, causing him to grimace as the sharp pain embeds itself into his nerves.

Forgoing attention to his injury, John rushes at the beast, swinging his shovel with tremendous force. He manages to strike another blow upon The Dark Desire, sending it to the ground as he prepares another. The creature goes limp, having been brought down by John's assault. But as he nears the baleful apparition, it twists its head in an inhuman three-sixty degree angle and opens its maw, its tongues jutting out towards John. The three whip-like tongues wrap themselves around his neck, constricting his larynx, leaving him unable to breathe. He falls to his knees, gasping for air. Realizing how crucial his next action will be, John thrusts the pointed-end of his shovel towards the beast's throat, embedding it into the creature and killing it.

John falls onto his back as he forcefully removes the now lifeless tongues from around his throat, visibly disgusted as their slime leaves its mark on his throat. He coughs as the pressure is alleviated, taking a few moments to regain his composure as he takes in several deep breaths of air. With his need for air sated, he looks towards the spot he last saw the woman at, seeing her huddled in a ball next to the couch. He slowly gets back onto his feet, standing up and brushing himself off. He cautiously prods the corpse of The Dark Desire, fearing that it may have another trick up its sleeve, but it remains limp in response to his inspection. Satisfied with the result, he places the shovel on the nearby desk.

He slowly, yet surely approaches the woman in the corner of the office.  
"Miss…are you alright?" questions John as he inches his way towards her, but she doesn't reply, seemingly ignoring him.  
He manages to get close to her without any surprises; she just cradles herself in the shape of a ball, clearly traumatized by the past event. Worried that she may be hurt, her reaches out for her, his hand getting closer to her shoulder "Miss…can you-" is all he can say before she suddenly, without warning, grabs his arm and charges her head into his stomach, forcing the air out of him and knocking him onto his back.  
He manages to get back up, but she yells "NOO, NOT AGAIN!" before slapping him on his injured cheek and running off.  
All John can do in reaction is rub his cheek, cough a bit, and wonder what caused her to get so riled up? A bit disappointed in that he doesn't have a fellow person to talk to, John gets back up on his feet and sighs. Things certainly aren't going his way currently, making him wonder if perhaps he's died and gone to hell. He shakes off that notion, assuring himself that if he was in hell, it'd be worse than a few random, albeit odd events.

Not sure on what to do, he decides to go back and inspect the creature he just killed. Kneeing down to get a good look at it, John notices how, even in death, the skin of this creature pulsates in a sickening manner. Accompanying the torso is three individual arms, each one covered in a type of mucous-like substance. Below the arms lay the legs which, for some odd reason, are not covered in the substance which coats the arms and tongues. Lastly, the head is devoid of any openings outside of its gaping maw.

Just then, he hears a dog's yelp, as if the dog was being maimed right next to him. He stands back up, looking behind him and noticing that the seat cushions of the second couch are protruding awkwardly. He approaches the couch cautiously, reaching for one of the pillows and picking it up, unearthing a grisly sight: The corpse of a headless dog, maggots swimming in the rotten tissue like children in an open pool. John can barely stop himself from throwing up, disgusted by the rotten quagmire laid before his eyes. He backs away before the stench can further blast itself into his nose, covering it with his arm in an attempt to block out the putrid stench.

As he backs away, he notices a barrel sticking out of the stump of the animal carcasses neck. Disgusted by the thought, but still curious, he reaches for the barrel. He can swear he could hear demented laughter as he does so, as if someone or something was seeing how the events were unfolding and laughing at the situation John has found himself in. Trying his best to ignore the slight paranoia, he grabs hold of the barrel and pulls it out, confirming his suspicions: A hand gun was lodged inside of the dead, decaying canine carcass. Confused, yet not surprised due to the nature of how he found his shovel, John checks the gun. The gun is fully loaded, seemingly intact but still putting off a stench akin to the corpse it was previously in.

As he checks the gun, he feels an eerie sense of dread creep up on him from behind, causing him to quickly turn and point the gun ahead of him. All that greets him is the empty air itself. He tries to re-locate the corpse of the creature he killed recently, but it has disappeared. Not even the stains on the carpet are there anymore, as if something had come along and erased the event itself. Lowering the gun, he wipes his brow with his hand, a cold sweat having accumulated on it. Unsure of what to do next, John grabs his shovel and places the handgun in his pocket. With that done, he sets off to find the unknown woman, hoping to try and explain to her that he is not a threat.


	5. Chapter 12

Silent Hill: The Inner Monster

Page 11

By John Priest (Efrit, Noctros, Drake, etc)

-------------------------

*John's Story*

As John approaches the bridge, his mood becomes dark. He sees ahead that the bridge has collapsed on itself and the remains are now floating at the bottom of the river. He curses at his foul luck, uncertain on what to do. He doesn't wish to follow the map to Midwich because he has this feeling that something bad will go wrong if he does so. This conundrum rakes at his patience like the screeching wail of a child, he finally decides with some hesitation, to explore the town, hoping that he'll find some sort of answer to his dilemma.

As he makes his way towards Bachman Road, he looks around to see if anything of use is in sight. He spots the Food and Liquor store and decides to take a look inside, to make sure that nothing of use is missed. He comes close to the window and puts his face on it, he can see several cabinets full of bottles. He wonders to himself, contemplating what he could do with those bottles. Then it hits him, if he could find some petroleum, some rags, and a thickening agent, like motor oil, he could make some Molotov cocktails. Now if he only had some sort of carrying unit. He can't carry all those bottles inside his jacket, which is almost full by itself with all those healing drinks, notes, ammo, etc. He turns his back to the store and sees the convenience store.

He thinks to himself "Awesome, finally some relief from these arising problems"

He goes near the store and with a push of the door, enters it. Inside is dark, dusty, and seemingly ancient. John's not sure on what he's going to find in here but he searches nevertheless. After searching for several minutes, he comes upon the Misc. Isle. In it, he finds enough petroleum for about 12 bottles. He would be happy that he's find his fuel but he still needs a carrying unit. So, he goes and searches around the main isles. He sighs at his rotten luck and is about to go outside the store when he hears a crash. He goes to investigate and finds several carts turned over. In one, he finds a duffel bag with an object in it. He turns on his flashlight to find a lighter. He turns it on and finds the flame still works, which alleviates his dark mood. He puts the bag's strap across his left shoulder and goes back to the petroleum. He collects it, along with some rags and heads out.

As he leaves, he hears a sound from behind him and looks to see a figure crash through a wall. The figure remains still for several seconds before slowly rising. John's uses his flashlight to see what the figure is. To his shock, the figure is a Charred woman, but this one's belly is rapidly expanding. He grabs the Glock from his inner pocket and points it at the Charred Woman's head. To his disgust, it starts vomiting violently and shakes rapidly, like it was having a seizure. Its belly then reaches its limit and explodes, with a second figure being laid upon the floor. John's expression shows the horror he's feeling as he watches this odd, perplexing event. The Charred Woman just stands back up, as if nothing even happened with its skin re-shaping and healing the wound it had. John points the flashlight towards the figure on the floor and finds a new creature. This creature was born fully grown.

The clearly female body is unlike its parent. This one's body is made of near-perfect composition. The figure stands up and presents itself to John, with a wicked smile upon its face. While the face is human, the body is not. The torso is composed of various things. The breasts are protruding mouths that contain rows of needle-like teeth, perfectly aligned in a circular pattern. A gaping hole lays where its womb would be, John can see a mutilated womb residing in the hole, which on site disgusts him. The monsters crimson hair, human arms, hands, legs, and feet are all that may suggest some human gene in it.

Its mouths all drool with hunger at the sight of John. It leaps with surprising speed, giving John only moments to react. He drops the duffel bag and instantly grabs the Emergency Hammer with both of his hands. Using his knowledge of force, he uses the momentum of a spin to give the hammer a good amount of bone crushing force. John almost is caught inside the monster's grasp, but he manages to have the end of the hammer come at the right time and it hits the monster in her head. Shattering its skull and killing it. Its body lands on the ground, its legs and arms fly around like a rage doll with a moment of twitching, before finally crumpling and going still. The Charred Woman howls in anger and rushes at John. He uses his remaining adrenaline to bring the hammer up and with a powerful, yet surprisingly fast blow. He kills the Charred woman by caving in its charred skull.

John takes several minutes to regain his breath and strength. He's tired of these monsters, but they don't cease to intrigue him. This new one causes him to go into a flash back. A Suppressed memory from the depths of his psyche comes back. His old friend, Chanlia. She was such a sweet girl, but alas she was easily corrupted. When they hit high school, she fell into the wrong crowd and go addicted to something he didn't expect: Sex. She'd have sex with anybody who wished it, she was careful with condoms and such. But she didn't take the possibility of being a mother seriously. So when she was 21, she was knocked up and was a very horrid mother at times. Because not even the pregnancy could stop her from banging someone, she even tempted John himself. He was disgusted and left her, repressing all memories of her so that he wouldn't have to feel any more pain. He learned several months later that she had a bad mis-carriage, which caused her womb to be spit out of her *area*.

She was depressed for days, he wanted to come to her aid but she rejected reality. Eventually she lost her mind when she learned she'd never have a child. Last he heard, she was in an Asylum for the mentally insane. These memories bring tears to his eyes, his old friend. The one he considered a sister, who left him and when she needed him once more, all he could do, was being a petty fool and ignore her pleas of assistance. He drops to his knees and slams his palm into the ground as his tears fall upon the dusty floor. He slowly regains his composure after several moments of self-loathing. He wipes the tears from his face, deciding to move on because he knows, that if she was here now, she wouldn't want him to get himself killed over such a trivial matter. He picks up the bag and the Emergency Hammer, and begins to move on before noticing something in the womb of the creature. He slowly reach's inside the grotesque womb-like area to find a pitcher of Tar. He barely, but surely smiles at his luck and puts it inside the duffel bag. With one last sigh, he heads off to the store.

He arrives at the store a few moments later, he opens the door and goes inside with the glock in his hand. He grabs twelve bottles and quickly rushes back outside to the light. Once he's outside, he remains still for a bit, making sure to be ready for any attack, but relaxes once he feels its safe. He opens the bag and begins the process of making the cocktails. Molotov Cocktails and he have a history, an un-pleasant one. His cousin asked him to make him some cocktails before, he couldn't even imagine what she planned to use them on. She torched a woman alive, and all that woman did was refuse to give her a sweater she wanted. His cousin was sent to jail and the woman spent her last agonizing moments in the hospital. He went to visit because he felt partially responsible and the sight he saw horrified him. She was nearly bone in some areas, charred black bone. She could barely breath and looked pitiful. He couldn't stay long, but he begged her for forgiveness and gave her a prayer. He re-lives this horrid moment for several seconds, its essence raking at his mind. He then lets it go with hesitation. He thinks to himself

"This town, there's something wrong here and knowing my foul luck, this is just a taste of what's to come"

He then remembers the monster he fought in the store, he decides to name it

"The Wanting Mother"

When he has named it, like all the other monsters, he gets up and looks at his map. Deciding that he'll just have to endure the torment it's likely to bring. So with a high amount of caution, he heads off to Midwich, to hopefully find some answers and maybe a way out of this accursed place. Though, even with this goal set, he can't help but wonder.

What else has he been suppressing inside his mind, what else lies inside the nether regions of his sub-conscious?


	6. Chapter 13

Silent Hill: The Inner Monster

Page 12

By John Priest (Drake, Noctros, Efrit, etc)

-----------------------

*Tai's story*

As Tai exits the church, she can't help but feel afraid. This entire town frightens her. She doesn't know why she's here or how she came here. All she can remember before waking up in that hospital, is her life and that she, Kate, and Jennifer were in a car before everything got dark. Why is she being tortured by this town? What has she done to deserve this punishment? She is still being haunted by the echos of Kate's screams. Images of her last moments flash in her head and Tai could swear she can see Kate, out in the corners of her eyes. This place is like her own personal hell. She slowly pulls out the map and looks to see what buildings are near. On the map, she notices that a Tavern is near. She decides to get a drink or two, to calm her nerves.

She arrives at the Tavern after twenty minutes of walking. On her way, she noticed that several of the streets have caved in and that for now, it'd be impossible to get back to Alchemilla Hospital. She comes to the tavern door to find it open, she pokes her head in slightly and looks inside. The interior of the tavern is dusty and kinda life-less. She decides to go in cautiously with her handgun gripped tightly in both hands. As she walks inside and takes a number of looks around, her mind flashbacks to the times she used to go to bars. She, Kate, and Jennifer would go to a bar and just have fun. She and Kate would just hang out and order a few rounds of sake, Jennifer on the other hand, would flirt and get drunk. Most of the time, Kate would drive both of them home, but sometimes Tai would have too.

She can still remember how those losers at the bar would flex their muscles and make up some corny pick up line to try and get into her pants. She'd turn them down most of the time, allowing only a few the chance to date her. Most men she rejected would either call her something along the lines of "Slut" or try again, most of the time they'd grab her ass and try to force her into kissing them. She'd elbow them in the chest and slap them in the face, in which they'd limp back to their pathetic friends. Tai looks around the bar, going through the various cabinets. After going through several cabinets and finding zip, she decides to take a break. She opens a bottle of Sake and takes a long drink.

She enjoys the brisk, ecstasy taste of the sake before putting it down and re-corking it. The nectar of the sake calms her nerves and allows her a few, precious moments of sanity from this insane town. She doesn't know what to do now, all she can think about is Kate. How she failed to protect the one who has protected her so much. How she failed to save her dearest friend when she needed her most. She starts to cry but stops when she remembers the theater. When she awoke, she found a map and on it, Artaud Theater was circled in red. She decides to go to the theater and begins to head out before eying an object on one of the tables. She comes close to the object and discovers a vase, full of tar. Wondering how she could use this, she sits down and tries to solve this problem.

She looks around and sees a bunch of bottles, full of dry whiskey. She walks over to the bottles and tries to figure out how she could use them to her advantage. She could make some Molotov Cocktails if she just had some rags. Tai searches through the drawers of the tavern and after several minutes, finds some rags. At first, she's happy that she's found a new weapon. But her smile quickly fades when she realizes, that she has no form of transportation for them. She tries to figure out a solution to this conundrum. This situation she's in puzzles her. Then she remembers, that a Public record building is near here. She decides to go to the records building, hoping that like the one back in D.C., it has carrying bags. She pours the tar into eight bottles and gathers those eight in her hands. When they are finally in her arms, she runs off through the door, to hopefully find a bag in the Public Records.

After running for about several minutes, she arrives at the building. She carefully puts down the bottles and slowly opens the door. Unlike the Tavern, the Public Records building is clean and tidy, with the only similarity being the darkness that hampers Tai's vision. As she slowly moves inside, she turns on her flashlight to give her a better view. As she moves through the aging records building, she can't help but look through the books. Each book is nothing more than records of births, deaths, etc. Some books are centered on one important event, but usually it's nothing of any real importance. As she looks through the countless records, she can't help but lower her awareness as she reads through the convoluted mess.

As her guard lowers, she allows herself a few moments of relaxation, hoping that nothing bad will happen. She sits down on one of the leather chairs and reads a memo, concerning Alchemilla's staff from a incident in 1980. She is startled to find a familiar name on it.

"Lisa Garland........" whispers Tai as she reads the name aloud

The last name forces her mind to remember John. The man who tried and apparently succeeded in saving her from those demonic nurses. But, what she wants to know, is why did he save her?

What does he get from helping her? What does he desire from her? That has to be it . . . he has to want something . . . most likely sex. Yeah, she bets that he only wants to get into her pants and have his fun. He probably wouldn't even take the time to get her in the mood, he's just a pig, like all other men.

As she stares at the paper, with her fists clenched as the heat of anger fuels her, she fails to notice the increasing smell of burning flesh. As the thought of men in general comes across her mind, she yells

"Bastards!"

Unbeknownst to her, her angry yells have attracted unwanted attention. But she still fails to notice the lingering, overly increasing smell of burnt flesh. As she starts to rip the record into pieces, just to smite John, a crash is heard from the back and it snaps her out of her anger induced rage. She slowly gets up with her handgun cocked and tightly gripped in both of her hands. She slowly walks to the back, with her flashlight on. As she gets to the back, she notices and grimaces at the horrid, overly bearing smell of burnt flesh.

When she finally gets to the back, she is horrified to discover a monster of unspeakable grotesqueness. The monster is sinking its fangs straight into a Dark Desire, ripping the middle arm off and eating it. The monster's very visage causes Tai to go into shakes and triggers her mind into a traumatic flashback. She was 21 when she and Kate went into a Zoo, to look at the cats. Oh how she loved cats. Big Cats, small cats, house cats, wild cats. It matters not to her, because she loves all felines. But that day was abysmal and will be forever burned into her memory. When she and Kate went over to the big cat's pen, they witnessed a grisly scene. The entire pen was set aflame. All the big cats like the lions, tigers, etc. were running around, screaming in agony as the flames consumed their fur and ate away at their flesh like corrosive acid.

She watched in horror as they all howled with pain and died off, one by one. They're flesh melting, twisting and contorting into new, more painful forms. That is where this monster comes in. It's flesh on its spinal column is clearly visible and charred black along with beginning of the head, the skin on its head has been fused with the remains of its ears, the bottom jaw is purely muscle, the teeth are as sharp as a scythe, the insides of the mouth are fused together in a twisted mess of muscles, melted flesh, and the incinerated tongue, the torso is blob-like mess of melted flesh and muscle, the claws are ever present and are as sharp as the teeth, and the tail is missing.

She shrieks a bit at this sight, but the creature doesn't seem to notice. She breathes a little sigh of relief but is stopped as she hears it, sniffing the air. Because of its destroyed ears, its senses have been increased twin-fold. It looks at its prey with hunger and anticipation of a new, less corrupted meal. Tai slowly backs up before rolling to the side, as the Melted Feral lunges at her. She crawls under a table and tries to hide, but the monster jumps on top of the desk and roars at Tai. She tips the table over with her strength and causes the Melted Feral to fall along with the table. She then runs over to the chair she was sitting in and moves it aside.

She takes one look as she hides behind the leather chair, in which she sees the fell creature lunge at her. It lands on the seat and in a moment of complete panic and adrenaline, she takes out the cleavers inside her pants pocket and impales them right into the monster's head, killing it. But she is not satisfied and tips over the chair, she then grabs a printer and throws it on top of the corpses head, making sure to kill the beast.

She breathes heavily, cursing and crying a bit, still gripped tightly in the embrace of terror. She remains still for several minutes before quickly jumping over the table and going over to the back. She sees where the Melted Feral came from, as she spots the broken bars. She goes inside the room to find it nearly empty, except for one item: a Steel Pipe. She slowly goes over to it, examines it, and quickly grabs it. She runs out of the Records Building and straight to the only building on her mind: Artaud Theater.


	7. Chapter 14

Silent Hill: The Inner Monster

Page 13

By John Priest (Noctros, Drake, Efrit, etc)

* * *

*John's Story*

It's been several minutes since John left the liquor store. He's since crossed Bachman Road and Finney Street and is about to come close to Virginia's Bodas. As he passes the shop, he looks at the shop and at first, sees only the dusty window. But a face quickly appears and surprises John, who quickly raises the emergency hammer in preparation. But as fast as the specter's visage appeared, it disappears in a flash. John just stands there, blinking, wondering what just happened? He takes a breath and shakes his head, He thinks that this town is already getting to him. As he walks towards the end of the street, he looks to his left and sees that the road has crumbled and turned into a seemingly endless pit. He looks ahead and sees that the sidewalk, which according to his map leads to Midwich Elementary, is intact. Knowing that it'd take too much time to re-track for a possible, yet unlikely alternate route to Midwich, he gets on the sidewalk and starts walking south.

As he walks down the sidewalk, he can't help but feel uneasy. Both sides of the sidewalk have caved in, turning this sidewalk into some sort of single platform. One mistake and he could be sent spiraling into the abyss. He walks alone on the stretching platform, trying to not look over the edge and to stay on his feet. He's always hated heights, the very thought of excessive heights makes his stomach turn with fear. It's sort of funny to him, people all around him assume he's a cold, fearless man. But he isn't oblivious to how they came to that conclusion. He's 6'6, he always wears a cold look on his face, he usually wears his trench coat, so in short, his very appearance is intimidating and he knows it. Though, sometimes he wishes that people would give him a chance, before making a judgment on his character based on appearance. It's that kind of thick headed thinking that has made John an outcast to the world, not like he minds though. He learned long ago that sometimes, it's best to be alone than be used and manipulated. He knows that his way of thinking may be considered dark and foreboding, but he doesn't care. He's been through too much to have kept his innocence, he's been kicked around and abandoned too much to really have any pleasant opinions about the world.

But he doesn't let those feelings cloud his judgment, he knows what is right and what is wrong. That's why he tried so hard to save Tai, why he tried to make friends with those people in Alchemilla. He hates to think about Jennifer though, how corrupted she was. It sickens him to see such a person, how such a person could even gain any friends still surprises him. He's just glad he's gotten out of that hospital and hopes he won't have to go back. But, he feels a pang of guilt for these thoughts. He doesn't know what happened to either Tai or Michelle. He hopes that both of them are ok, especially Tai. Seeing her own friend die like that, must of had a massive impact on her psyche. She already seemed a bit unstable and it worries him because this town doesn't seem keen on giving anyone with even the slightest bit of problems, a break. But, she seemed strong enough to defend herself, no matter what happens to her. So, he'll just pray that she's alive and okay.

Michelle though, he's uncertain on how to think of her because he can't really understand her. She seems nice, but he's learned that not everything is what it seems. He tries to feel safe with her, but this ominous, spiritual warning keep's him from feeling safe around her. He's not sure, but he thinks she may be hiding something, something dark and corrupt. Nevertheless, he hopes she's okay. Eventually, after several minutes of walking, he sees a gap in the sidewalk. He inspects the gap and concludes that he could jump over to the other side if he had enough momentum. So, he takes off his trench coat and ties it together with the Emergency Hammer. He then places the duffel bag on the ground and takes the hammer by its handle. He starts swinging it, faster and faster till he's gained enough momentum in his swing and he lets go. The momentum of the swings causes the hammer and John's trench coat to speed across the gap and land on the other side.

With a quick and satisfied "Yes!"

John puts the duffel bag back across his shoulder and walks back several feet before turning around and running towards the gap. As he approaches the gap, faster and faster, his heart pumps with a mix of fear and adrenaline. Then, the moment comes. He jumps with all his might combined with the amount of speed and momentum he gained from running. Time seems to slow down as his hurls across the gap, which has seemed to have become bigger. But time resumes its normal speed as John lands on the other side. He lands legs first and falls to his knees, in which he sits down on the ground to rest a bit before resuming his little adventure. After several minutes of just laying on top of the concrete sidewalk, he gets up and places the duffel bag onto the ground.

He unties the arms of his trench coat from the end of the Emergency Hammer and checks it's pockets. Everything is okay and nothing is broken. He puts on the trench coat and places the duffer bag back around his shoulder. He grabs the Emergency Hammer, checks the ground, and is off. As he walks down the sidewalk and comes near Midwich, he hears a screech coming from behind him. He looks behind himself to see several Rotted Screecher's, flying straight at him in a V formation. He grabs the glock from his right pocket and starts shooting at the flock of screechers as he backs up. He manages to get several bullets into the right screecher, causing it to fall on top of the screecher to the right of it, causing both of them to fall into the abyss. John then stops shooting as they get closer and instead runs towards Midwich. He runs as fast as he can, not even stopping to see if they are still following him, which they still are. As he comes to the entrance of the school, he is glad for a second before one of the screechers fly right in front of him, blocking his escape.

Not standing for this, John charges ahead with both hands gripped tightly on the handle of the Emergency hammer. With one fast and anger fueled swing, he impales the left, spike end of the hammer onto the Rotted Screecher's head and carries the corpse inside with him as he escapes from the remaining two. When he is inside, he briefly drops the handle of the hammer and places his hands on top of his knee's, taking massive breathes to calm himself down. Just then, he hears the remains of a breathe from the corpse of the screecher. Acting with fear and anger, John quickly grabs the Emergency Hammer and uses the blunt end of the hammer to crush and obliterate the body and bones of the dead screecher. Blood splashes forth onto the floor as the blunt end hurls upon the corpse, turning it's bones into a heep of blood and mush. After several minutes of rage, John raises the hammer one last time and with a mighty swing, he destroys the cranium of the screechers corpse.

He swallows some air and tries to re-calm himself. He thinks to himself

"Stupid....stupid....it's just a corpse, it was dead when the left end of the hammer impaled itself onto its head"

He covers his face with his right hand and slowly brings it down, wiping the sweat from his face. After several minutes of breathing and relaxing, he is finally calm. He looks around the lobby, seeing nothing more than a bench and the door leading into the main complex. Taking one last look at the dead screecher, John heads towards the door and goes through it. After he is through the door, he looks around to see his surroundings. The look has a classic feel, with some modern touches like up to date lockers and such. He looks to his left and notices the Reception area, in which he heads towards it. The little door that usually separates the receptionist from the visitors is open and broken off one of its hinges. John goes through it and sees that the entire area is a mess. Papers scattered everywhere, a mini-fridge left open with a dying light, and oddly, a knife stabbing a piece of paper on top of a separate, smaller desk.

He goes over to the small desk and sits on the accompanying leather chair, resting his tired feet and giving himself some minor form of relaxation. He grabs the handle of the knife and removes it from the piece of paper. He places the knife onto the main desk and unfolds the piece of paper, revealing the piece of paper to be a map of Midwich. John looks at the map and puts it up inside his inner pocket when he's done. After several minutes of relaxing in the chair, he gets up and heads into the accompanying office. Inside the office, he finds a single lamp on, illuminating the continents of the desk it's placed on. He goes over to the desk and searches through it.

Inside the desk, he finds a case of handgun bullets and places it inside his inner pocket. He tries to find a few more items, but he is out of luck and finds nothing. He's about to leave but quickly notices a strange piece of paper. Written in red ink, it says

"When the weapons of Corrupt Ice and Pure Fire are placed in opposition, ready to clash, and fueled by the Flames of Hell, only then will the path be brought forth into the open"

This riddle boggles his mind. What does it mean, and what path is it mentioning?He places the note in his inner pocket, for later reference. He exits the office and the reception area, heading into the infirmary so that he can gather some supplies.

Inside the infirmary, he finds a quite, sterile room, reminiscent of Alchemilla's rooms. He goes through the medical supplies cabinet and gathers a few medical pack's and a health drink, in which he places them inside his second, spare inner pocket. He then exits the infirmary and heads towards the Courtyard. He opens the door slowly, knowing that this area is outside and may be swarming with monsters. He peeks through a slight opening and sees the two Rotted Screechers he escaped, camped out on the branches of a dead tree.

Not wanting to waste any more precious ammo, he tries to come up with some sort of decoy. Just then he remembers the corpse of the dead screecher he carried in with him as he escaped. He runs back to the lobby and grabs the body with his hands. He opens the door quickly and keeps it open with his leg, he then hurls the corpse out into the open and watches as the two screechers come to feast. As they come and eat their sudden meal, they do not anticipate the incoming pain that John has prepared for them. John light's a Molotov cocktail and hurls it at the group, setting the screecher's aflame and stuck on the ground because of the thickening agent he used.

He paces over to the suffering screecher's and impales both of them in the head with his emergency hammer, with two separate swings. He piles the burning carcasses on top of each other and letting them all be consumed in the purifying rage of the flame. John takes a deep breathe of air and calms himself, he's avoided wasting ammo and has killed these monsters. He looks at the surrounding courtyard, noticing how empty, almost depressing on how the way it looks. He decides to get out of the open space before the smoke attracts more of the damned birds. He walks into the hallway with his guard up, but thankfully nothing is there to attack him. He exits this hallway and goes into another as he exits through the doors. He notices that this hallway is just as empty except for a flight of stairs to his right.

Not sure on what he could do, he ponders to himself on which way he should go. Just then, he hears a scream coming from above and wondering what it could be, he rushes up the stairs. Once he is on the second floor, he tries to pin the point on where the sound came from, but he's having trouble doing so. Then, a second scream is heard coming from Classroom C and he goes to the door. He takes out his glock and quickly bursts the door open, hoping he can help whoever is in trouble.


	8. Chapter 15

Silent Hill: The Inner Monster

Page 14

By John Priest (Noctros, Efrit, Drake, etc)

* * *

*Tai's Story*

Tai comes to the aging edifice after exiting and running from the Records building. The building stand's whole and complete, facing the future steadfast like a boulder in the river of time. From where she's standing, Tai can vaguely point out a thin ray of light, coming forth from inside the theater and through an opening in its doors. She slowly, yet carefully goes near the door and peeks her head through the door. Inside the theater, is a bright display of lights and imagery. She walks into the grand lobby, showing a faint smile, signaling that the intended effect has occurred. She reads the sign above the entrance to the Auditorium: Swan Lake. A famous ballet, telling the tragic romance of a prince and his love for a swan princess. She has had a history with ballet, first starting in her teen years. It was pretty good, since this was before that man came into her life, she was generally happy yet still a loner. She remembers one of her dearest friends from this era in time, Lillian. Lillian was one of those rare fellows, a nice and caring individual. Someone who'd put her very soul at risk, just to help one person. Tai remembers how, that whenever she missed up on things like splits or twirls, Lillian would be there to offer her help.

But . . . those kinds thought's are quickly dashed away, like the office supplies on top a anger management worker's desk. From the darkest recesses of her mind, come memories that she had long since shunned, those of one corrupt person. A damned living demon who served as the polar opposite of the angelic Lillian, her twin sister Sara. Sara was a seemingly nice person at first, almost like her sister, except a bit crueler. At first, Tai could ignore this at first, but slowly she saw Sara for whom she really was. A living, self-destructing bomb, that would consume all life and happiness, in its cloud of death. While both her sister and she both pursued the same dream, they differentiated in the methods of how they tried to obtain it. While Lillian would be kind and gentle, offering her aid to all who needed it and even going the extra mile to help them, Sara would use intimidation and the ancient art of deceit to get what she wanted. Tai remembers hearing how Sara used her connections to ruin the chances of an aspiring ballerina, she was successful sadly, ending the dream of a poor, innocent girl.

When both Tai and Lillian heard the truth about this incident, they were repulsed by the wickedness of Sara. Tai wanted to fight fire with corrosive acid, but Lillian quickly subdued her friend's want for justice. Lillian, while still an angel, was still a bit naive and as such, thought she could try to get some sort of justification for this act from her twin sister. But alas, things didn't work out like that. When she confronted Sara, her sister just quickly turned the confrontation into an argument about trust, trying to imply that Lillian should be more trusting of her darling sister. Lillian, being the sweet girl she was, quickly lost her voice and submitted to her sisters underhanded assault. Tai on the other hand, tried to confront the conniving prima donna. She argued with Sara infront of Sara's supposed friends, which included Tai's friend Jennifer. Jennifer just stood there like a doll, listening to the unending barrage of insults that Sara and her posse threw at Tai. Tai, while a strong lass, crumbled eventually. But, she did it with some small spec of dignity and walked away with a few tears in her eyes. Afterwards, she contemplated about whether she should continue being a ballerina or just quit. She decided to give it a chance, for Lillian's sake. But, as expected, she was constantly harassed by Sara and her posse, who all feigned innocence when confronted by either Lillian or the class instructor. So, even though she was asked to stay by Lillian, she quit and lost contact with Lillian, not even asking Jennifer about her.

The sudden remembrance of these sweet, yet bitter memories, caused Tai's head to go into a rush and so, she sat down on a near by bench. As the memories came to an end, she started to lie on the bench, closing her eyes and trying to relax. She wishes that this hell would end, that she'd close her eyes one time and she'd wake up in the car Kate was driving. Kate . . . how Tai misses her motherly companion. Tears start to form as she remembers her fallen friend. How she wishes she could've saved Kate, but because of the shock of seeing her friend being hurt, her entire body paralyzed itself in fear. She cries a bit, slamming her fist onto the soft pillow beside her. Because of her, Kate died. She could've saved her, she could've ran with her to some sort of safety, yet she failed to do even the simplistic task of fleeing. She continues to submerge herself in her self-loathing until she hears a crash coming from a room near by. She slowly sits up and sits silently as she waits for something to happen. After several minutes of waiting, she get's up and cautiously walks over to the room near the right corner exit.

One their, she notices the door's hinges being broken and the door itself, forced open. She slowly walks into the dark room, making sure to turn on her flash light, even though the light from the lobby would filter into the dark room. Inside, is a mess of shattered glass and turned over racks, with spilled cloaks scattered about the floor. She slowly creeps about the room, like a tiger hunting for her prey. She looks around the room, but from what she can see, there is no clear indication on what was the source of the disturbance she heard. She walks to the far end of the room, slowly approaching some sort of object. Upon getting close, she can tell that it is a piece of paper. When she gets near, she looks all around her to make sure this isn't a trap and when she deems it safe, she quickly picks the paper up and looks at it with the flash light. She shines the light on it to see that it is a map of the entire theater, along with some sort of note, stapled to it. As she goes to take off the note, she hears the door she came through, close. She looks at the door with her flashlight and sees a dark hand slip away from the light. She shines the light to the right to see something she wishes she hadn't. From on top the ceiling, is hanging a Dark Desire. The monster most likely caused the commotion in order to lure Tai in their and ambush her once she was in.

The Dark Desire had clung onto the walls with it's two normal arms, using its third to shut the door. It drops from the ceiling and slowly stands up, walking towards Tai with a snarl coming from its throat. She is momentarily consumed in her own fear, as the familiar image of the beast is focused upon by her eyes. But, after a few moments, she starts to remember her previous thoughts, how she would become stronger. So, she snaps out of her shock and grips her Steel pipe tightly.

She screams "No, NOT AGAIN!!!" In which she lunges forward and swings the pipe at the Dark Desire's head. She misses and is hit in the stomach by the monsters third arm, punching all the breathe from her body and knocking her to the side. She lies on the floor for a minute, just enough time to let the monster jump and try to land on her. But Tai quickly rolls to the left and dodges her assaulter. She stands up and with the Steel Pipe clenched tightly in both hands, she swings it and caves in the Dark Desire's skull. The dark apparition falls to the floor with a thud, signaling that it has died, but that does not stop Tai. She continues to swing, turning the monster's stiff corpse into a mushy mixture of shattered bone and pulverized flesh.

Tai smashes the pipe into her would-be killer's body over and over, slowly forming a smile as she kills the monster. As she does this, foot steps can be heard coming from behind her, but she doesn't care, instead focusing on the monster. That's when, the door behind her opens up and, acting upon instinct, Tai swings the pipe with all her might. She is surprised when she hears the word "Fuck" and an ensuing metallic clang. She comes back to reality, to see that her pipe has struck a metal bat, wielded by another person. She backs away as she shines the flashlight on the new being, revealing the wielder of the bat to be a Black male.

The man says "What the hell did you do that for?" As he gives her a mixed look of confusion and anger. In which, she only stares back at him as he begins to speak once more.


	9. Chapter 16

Silent Hill: The Inner Monster

Page 15

By John Priest (Noctros, Efrit, Drake, etc)

* * *

*John's Story*

John enters the room to find no apparent source of the scream, but he does have a suspect in what caused it: A Dark Desire. The foul beast is perched on top of a bunch of desks, trying to break through the make-shift blockade and get its prey. John then begins to hear the cry's of terror, once more filling the room and echoing throughout his mind. John raises his glock and points it at the monster, whistling to catch its attention. The whistle is successful and causes the fell beast to turn its head, in which John lets off several shots, hitting the Dark Desire in its chest and head, killing it and causing it to fall off the desks and onto the floor. John slowly walks towards the body of the beast, getting to it and hitting it with his right foot. When no reaction comes, John lower's his weapon knowing the monster is dead.

He says aloud "Whoever's here, your safe now" trying to sound nice.

He waits for a bit, wondering if maybe the screams were merely his imagination, or perhaps his sub-conscious affected by the town's corrupting influence, signaled out a danger? But, if that was the case, why didn't it alert him to the presence of the Necrotic Screecher's back on the sidewalk? After several minutes, he begins to turn away before he hears a quiet grunt and turns his head towards the desks as he sees a figure come out from beneath the desks. From what he can see, it's a female with black hair, small build, and medium height. When the woman stands up, she quickly clings to John's torso and looks up with a smile. When he sees her face, John's heart stops for what seems like an eternity. She looks like Chanlia, his lost friend. With the exception, of her clothes which are far more modest and not revealing, she could be Chanlia's twin.

She says to him "Um....th-thank you...sorry for taking so long...I...I just wanted to make sure you were human..." says the stranger in a timid tone.

She sees his shock affected expression and asks "I . . . is something wrong?" But he doesn't hear her. The only thing he can see, is the past memories of Chanlia. All he feels, all he hears, is the extreme sorrow and grief that he experienced with her sex addiction and how she spiraled down into her own destruction.

But, he finally snaps out of his trance a few moments later, seeing the girl and asking "Hm? What?"

In which, she replies "I was asking if your alright" and he says "Yeah...sorry, you....just look like someone I once knew....and you brought up some memories...." Says John with a depressed tone. She looks down at the floor and replies "Oh....I'm sorry....."

but John quickly puts his left hand up and shakes his head, saying "No, don't worry about it, it's not your fault"

She lets out a soft "Yeah . . . but . . . " but he smiles and says "Don't worry about it, now then what's your name?"

She hesitates for a bit, but breathes and replies "Nalia"

He goes forward and hold's out his hand, saying "John Garland, nice to meet you"

She slowly moves forward and shakes his hand, replying "Nice to meet you too...." trailing off at the end, hinting to John that she's shy.

He then asks "How'd you get here?" in which she replies "I....don't know....I just woke up....on these desks and that....that thing was their"

After John hears this, he tries to think of why she'd be here. Is she a innocent bystander or perhaps something darker? More sinister? Whatever reasons the town had for bringing her here, all he knows is that she'll need someone to help her. So, he decides to ask her to come along with him.

"Nalia, do you have any weapons or something to defend yourself from the monsters?" Asks John, a stupid question considering she crawled beneath the desks, but a necessary one

She replies "No...sorry..." showcasing her ever present shyness

He walks over to a desk and sits on it, turns his head towards her and says "Would you like to travel with me?"

In which, Nalia smiles and looks at him with bright eyes, saying "You wouldn't mind?"

He replies "Of course not, now come on, we need to get out of this hell hole" In which she smiles as they leave the classroom and into the Hallway.

They head to the right, down the long hallway. She sticks close to John, making sure to be within a arms distance of him and the protection he provides. As they pass the pink lockers, they both start to hear a rattle, which echos throughout the school and into their minds. The constant, annoying rattle unnerves both of them, bloating Nalia's fear and gnawing at John's patience. They finally get to the end of the hallway, near the doorway to the hallway with the Locker and Music rooms, but they freeze in their tracks as they hear a shatter come from the boy's bathroom.

They carefully approach the right side of the door, John raising the glock and putting both hands on it. She motions for Nalia to stay as he goes forth. Finally, he busts through the door with the Glock pointed forward and his nerves turned to stone. Inside, he finds the shattered remains of a mirror and a clogged towel dispenser. He sighs and turns around to tell Nalia that the coast is clear, but when he turns around, she is gone. He comes out of the bathroom door and looks around, with no sign of Nalia anywhere.

He yells her name "NALIA!" hoping to catch her attention if she is nearby, but several minutes of waiting make it clear that she isn't near by. He shakes his head in frustration, unsure what to really make of her sudden disappearance. Is she a ploy designed by the town to cause doubt or has she simply gone away? Whatever the case, this sudden absence has had a effect. He doubts himself, wondering if maybe Nalia is a simple illusion crafted by the town to deceive him? After all, it's not likely a coincidence that she looks like a more pure, tame Chanlia. But, what if it is? Maybe it is just a coincidence, and right now, she may be in danger.

He tries to come up with some sort of plan, but his minded is clouded with doubt and fear, both mixing to form a stronger combination of both foul feelings. He struggles to regain his composure, finally taking it back after a long inner struggle. He puts his left hand on his head and slowly brings it down, closing his eyes as it passes them and reopening them as it comes off his chin. He takes a big breath of air and lets it out slowly, slowing his heart down to its normal rhythm. As he begins to relax, he starts to hear a quiet shuffle and he quickly turns around with the glock pointed straight ahead, What he sees, is the slow moving remains of a Charred Woman, trying to crawl its way out of the stall. He lowers his glock and puts it into his right pants pocket, taking the emergency hammer in his left hand, into both. With it, he lifts it over his head and slowly walks towards the Charred Woman. As he gets to the foul demon, the monster notices him and tries to crawl away in a feeble attempt to avoid its incoming demise. But, its to no consequence, for he gets to it quickly and swiftly brings the hammer down, ending its corrupt life.

This act, does little to heal his frustration with the situation at hand, but it does calm him a bit, ending the foul life of A abhorred apparition. He looks around inside the bathroom, finding only the destroyed remains of the glass that attracted his attention first. He sighs and goes towards the doorway, stopping at the towel dispenser and deciding to clean his hands. He breaks open the broken towel dispenser and picks up the single piece of paper. As he begins to wipe his hands, he notices a strange writing on it. He unfolds it to find a sheet of piano lyrics, titled "The melody of the damned" with a little note written at the bottom.

It says "To gain the flame, you must listen to their pain"

This riddle confuses him a bit, but he quickly guesses that these lyrics are meant to be used to listen to the melody of the damned, which will open the way to the flame. With the note in his inner coat pocket, he heads off to the music room, hoping to find a solution to his dilemma.


	10. Chapter 17

Silent Hill: The Inner Monster

Page 16

By John Priest (Noctros, Efrit, Drake, etc)

* * *

*Tai's Story*

"Well?" Questions the man, in which Tai can only glare at him.  
The man sees the glare and gets frustrated when she doesn't answer his question. She would've replied already if he was a woman, but being a man, she doesn't trust him and will remain cautious around him. After several minutes, he begins to show a clear look of annoyance and says "What is your problem? The least you can do is give me an answer " In which she blurts out "I don't have to give you anything, you pig "  
This response has a effect on the man, causing him to explode in fury "PIG YOU RACIST BITCH I'M NO PIG " And walk towards her angrily with his teeth grinding on top of each other. She's shocked to be called racist and yells "I'm no racist You asshole You're a man, they're all pigs " With that said, she quickly rushes past him and out through the door before he can stop her.

She quickly runs up the stairs to her right and through the double doors that lead to the case room. Inside the room, are tables with cases on top of them. Inside the cases, are various props that are most likely for the shows. She goes to a near by bench and sits down on it for a moment, before falling to her left side and just trying to relax, even for just one, precious moment of solitude. These few moments, are the most peaceful she's had since entering this hell hole. That's when she remembers the note she found inside the Cloak Room. She goes through her left pocket and finds the note, crumpled and partially damaged from her encounter with that man. Luckily, the note is still legible and as such, she can still read it.

"May 5th, 2000 Personal Log of The Janitor  
Today, auditions started for the play, Swan Lake. Of my 20 years as a janitor, I've never seen more talented folk. The two I liked, were the twin sisters that auditioned for separate roles. The youngest seemed more modest and tried out for a bunch of roles, yet the older was a bit brash and auditioned only for the main role of the Swan Princess. Even so, they both were fantastic and I applauded with the director as he gave them both roles in the play. He gave the youngest the role of the Swan Princess, while the older sister was given the role of False Princess. Though, something struck me as odd when the director announced his decision: I could swear I saw a glimpse of utter anger from the oldest, but I just shook it off as a mere false glimpse. The rest of the auditions were a mix of fair to plain awful, but in the end, the play got a solid cast.  
Until tomorrow  
Jason Guantillie "

Swan Lake...twins....Tai's brain rushes as she tries to put these two together and at first, she thinks of Sara and Lillian, but quickly dismisses it because those two were heading to California, not some modern tourist trap. She would've pondered this a bit further, but she hears a crash coming from the room infront of her, which according to her map, is the hallway which leads to the various rooms. She hesitates a bit, wondering if she should go investigate. Her logical side says no, but her curiosity is growing into a roar, a demand that she go forth to find out what made that sound. But, she silences that lion-like urge and sticks her face into the pillow to her left. She inhales a large quantity of air and breathes hard into the pillow. Just then, she hears the laughter of children coming forth from the hallway infront of her and sticks her head out of the pillow. Children?.....she's unsure what to do. She can't leave a child to endure this hellish dimension, but then again, it could be another trick.

Eventually, even though her logical side is telling her to ignore it, her motherly side can't stand by and let a child go through this hell. She stands up slowly, stretching afterwards and grabbing her pipe in both hands. She places the note and map into her right vest pocket and goes forth to the door, opening it swiftly and looking inside the hallway with her flashlight. To her luck, it's seemingly empty besides the furniture located in separate places. She sighs, cursing her mind for seemingly creating something out of nothing, but as she turns her head, she notices the shadow of a small figure and looks back. She gulps some air before heading through the door way, with her pipe clenched tightly in her hands and the flashlight inside her pocket. She walks at a moderate pace, making sure to be aware in case another Dark Desire or any other abomination tries to ambush her.

As she paces through the hallway, nearing the exit, she looks around and only see's misplaced items, like dolls on a couch or a chair with a lamp on it. She could swear she's hearing light footsteps behind her, but she just contributes that to the growing paranoia in her head. She eventually arrives at the door and is about to go through, when she starts to hear the shouts of that man she met in the cloak room. She quickly bursts through the door and closes it, running ahead to try and avoid him. She gets to the female dressing room and quickly goes inside, hoping that if the man pursues her, that he'll go another way. Inside, the room is like any other theater dressing room. With excessive amounts of make-up and dresses, the performers were usually ready just as the show began. She walks around the room, a flashlight in her right hand and a pipe in her left.

She shines the flashlight to her right as she reaches the opposite end of the room, seeing something underneath the make-up table and deciding to see what it is. As she goes to the table and slowly gets on her knee's, she begins to hear footsteps again and turns around, but she sees nothing. She mutters "Stupid theater...." as she bends over and looks underneath the table. Underneath the table, she quickly finds what she saw: A Quarter. She thinks to herself "Great...money..." as she begins to crawl out of the tight space. But suddenly, she hears a crash behind her and jumps, hitting her head onto the underside of the table. She moans in pain as she crawls out of the space, getting back onto her feet and rubbing her head. She looks around the room and sees that a pole had fallen, with a cracked doll beside it. She walks to the doll and kneels as she looks at it, being a bit saddened by the cracks on such a beautiful doll.

She cups' the dolls head in her right hand, looking at the splendid details that ordain the doll. That's when she sees, that inside the doll's head, is a note. She gently places her hand inside the dolls fractured head and pulls out a note, softly laying the doll back down when she's done. She opens the note to see a short sentence, is written on it. It reads  
"I've hidden the combination to the safe in one of the lights on the catwalk above the stage in the auditorium, hopefully it'll be safe their from some of our more shady cast members"  
Safe....she wonder's where she could find one here....perhaps in the directors office? She takes out the map and looks for the directors office, finding it to be close by. She stands up and places the map back into her right pocket. She grabs the flash light and pipe respectively and heads through the door, deciding to go to the directors office. As she exits the female dressing room, she hears laughter to her right and quickly darts her head, barely managing to see a small figure close the door to the storage room.

She quickly runs to the door and opens it, saying "Hello? Is anyone here?" As she shines her flashlight inside the room. Inside, are shelves upon shelves of dolls. She smiles a bit, going inside to get a closer look at the lovely small shaped figures. As she goes inside, she turns to her left and faces a kimono wearing doll. She fawns over how darling the doll looks, touching it's white nose and giggling happily. That's when the door suddenly slams shut and she quickly turns around. She rush's to the door, trying to get it open but to no avail. That's when she starts to hear the giggling of children behind her. She slowly turns around to see that some of the dolls, have disappeared. She stutters out "H-hello...?" As she turns her flash around the room and steps forward a bit, towards the kimono wearing doll. As she looks at the doll, it's face starts to twist into a wicked smile.

She slowly walks back, her mouth quivering in fear as the doll starts to laugh insanely. She turns to find that she is surrounded by all of the dolls. She begins to grab the lead pipe in both of her hands, but the kimono wearing doll lunges onto her back and sic's its fangs into her neck. Causing her to scream and swing wildly. She destroys a few, unfortunate dolls but is swarmed by the various dolls. The dolls crawl up her legs, finding various empty places and biting Tai. She struggles hard, falling onto her back and destroying the kimono wearing doll. That's when the door busts open and the man she met before, comes in with his bat gripped firmly in his hands. He see's the scene before him, hesitating as the dolls hiss at him. But he regains his composure and rushes towards them. He bats several off her legs as he gets to her. She quickly stands up and grabs her pipe, helping to destroy the remainder of the dolls. When they are done, they both stare at each other for a few minutes before the man says

"So, what's your name?"


	11. Chapter 18

Silent Hill: The Inner Monster

Page 17

By John Priest (Noctros, Efrit, Drake, etc)

* * *

*John's Story*

After getting his mind straight, John heads through the door and into the southern hallway. Inside the hallway, all John can see is a thick veil of dust. He comes to a poster, with an announcement regarding a play, but the words have faded and he can't make out any distinguishable features besides the stage. He walks away from the poster, heading straight for the Music Room. As he walks into the Music Room, he gets a strange sense of nausea upon entering the dark, barely lit room. The air in the room, seems to just fill with life as he breathes it in, perhaps livened up by the atmosphere of the accompanying instruments, the center piece, being a grand piano of glorious design. He's always liked pianos, how gentle they sound, almost hauntingly beautiful in their ingenious melodies. He knows that there are countless, heavy songs involving pianos, but he's always preferred the softer sounds. Never one for heavy, or loud music, he's always stuck to his gentle and classic musical taste.

Through all this musical reminiscing, he almost forgets about the lyrics he found inside that bathroom. But, he remembers the crumpled piece of paper as he puts his hands into his pockets and feels the crude, almost sandy feel of the material it's made of. He takes it out of his inner pocket and opens it up, making sure to try and smoothen out it's wrinkles, which would hender any possible interpretations. He places the music lyrics on top of the piano, figuring that by the structure of the lyrics, they'd be piano lyrics. He wishes he could play the lyrics, but he's not exactly the most gifted in the musical talents. He sighs, cursing his luck at being presented with a musical dilemma. That's when, just as his mind is occupied with thoughts of the lyrics, a tuba falls onto the floor and captures his attention, like a fly to a light. He looks past the piano, to see the fallen tuba laying on the floor, with something inside it.

He carefully approaches the tuba, both hands gripped tightly on an accompanying weapon. Once he gets to the tuba, he hits it once with the Emergency Hammer to make sure nothing is inside. He waits a few minutes before deciding on a course of action, putting the Glock into his left pocket and going to his knee's to pick up whatever's in the tuba. He sticks his left hand inside the tuba, feeling around the insides of the tuba. His hand lands on a cold, metallic item. He grabs hold of the item and swiftly pulls his hand out of the tuba. He breathes for a bit before opening his left hand and finding a Screwdriver.  
He wonders to himself *What the hell is a screwdriver doing in a tuba?* as his face shifts to reflect the confusion of his mind. That's when he starts to hear laughing behind him and turns his head, seeing nothing but the very darkness that is blanketing him. He shakes his head and looks downwards, attributing the laughter to the confused state of his mind.

But, when he starts to hear the laughing again, along with the footsteps of children, he quickly turns his head to find the door he closed, open and barely shut. He quickly shoots up to his feet and runs towards the door, rushing through it and looking to his right. In which he sees the shadow of some sort of being, run through the locker room door and out of his sight. He hesitates for a bit, wondering if it's some sort of concoction developed by this town to trick him. He nearly ignores it, but pursues the shadow when he hears "John...." coming forth from the locker room, sounding exactly like Nalia.. Inside the locker room, most of the lockers have been visibly forced open, with their locks littering the floor. Slowly, walks across the dirty floor, analyzing the room's lockers for any contents that could aid him in his journey. He walks around the room, looking into the upper lockers, upon which, he see's a slip of paper with the words "Memo" labeled on it. He reaches inside the strangely damp, disgusting locker and pulls out the piece of paper. He places it on top of the lockers, using a discarded, yet dry towel to wipe his hands and arms free of any foreign material that could've clung to his jacket arm.

Once done, he grabs the memo and looks around the room one more time, making sure that he didn't miss anything, or anyone.  
He shakes his head and sigh's, thinking *Must be this damn town again . . . * as he walks back around the lockers and through the open door. As he exits the foul-smelling room, he closes the door behind him and breathes in a huge gulp of air, enjoying the cleaner, better air. Once satisfied, he walks over to an accompanying door and opens it, deciding to find a char before he reads the memo. He settles for a lonely bench, moving aside a few papers and opening up the memo, flashing the light onto it and proceeding to read it.

"Memo to All Staff  
All children and unauthorized personnel are prohibited from entering The Janitor's Shack, outback behind the school playground. Only the janitor and authorized personnel are allowed inside the shack. If any problems occur with the school's equipment, immediately inform the janitor or principal for assistance  
That is all for now" The rest of the memo has faded/or been damaged by whatever was inside that locker.

"Hm....what did that note say?" Questions John as he starts searching through his inner pocket and pulls out the note he retrieved from the reception desk.  
"When the weapons of Corrupt Ice and Pure fire are placed in opposition, ready to clash, and fueled by the Flames of Hell, only then will the path be brought forth into the open" reads John as he tries to come up with a plan.  
That's when his brain suddenly sparks and he gets it: The Boiler. A boiler is a common piece of equipment in old schools like this, with it's most common use being to warm the school during times of dire, unforgiving cold. He figures that the boiler and its "flames" are what will open the path to whatever awaits John at the end. After he figures this out, John takes a few moments to relax, hoping to ease his rattled mind for the stress of this purgatoric hell he's been thrown into. He figures, that once he's done with this task, he'll come back and do some more exploring of the school, maybe find some ammo or a drink, maybe even Nalia.

He stands up, stretching a bit to loosen his muscles up. He eerily begins to hear the sound of children laughing, like as if he was in this school on a normal day. Those noises unnerve him, making his spine tingle with a cold bit of fear. But he moves on, hoping that they will stop. As he gets to the end of the western hallway, the sounds finally relent on their assault upon his psyche. But with the end of one nuisance, comes another. As John nears the door to his left, he starts to hear the shuffling of feet nearby, with a raspy groan accompanying it. He hesitates at the door, waiting for either the beast to come closer or move away. He waits a few moments, before putting his pistol in his left pocket and grabbing his Emergency Hammer with both of his hands. With the hammer gripped firmly, John bursts through the door, ready for a fight. Strangely, there is no monster to fight, just dust and darkness.

He looks around, making sure that no monster is around, but for all he can see, is just another empty room. He lets out a short breathe, happy that he's avoided any fights for now. But, his luck is yet to give him any aid, for a Dark Desire unhinges itself from the wall above John and lunges at him, knocking John onto the floor and giving the monster an advantage. John struggles with the apparition, trying to throw it off of him. The monster repeatedly punches John in the gut with its third arm, knocking his breathe out each time. John struggles with the monster, trying to raise his hammer in order to attack. John's face is lashed multiple times by the creatures tongues, splitting his skin like a scalpel to a body. John grunts in painful acknowledgment of these new wounds. Using his anger, he headbutts the Dark Desire and throws it towards the accompanying window to the right. They both struggle to stand up first, but John has the edge and grips his Emergency Hammer in hand as he charges at the Dark Desire and swings the hammer like a baseball bat. Hitting the Dark Desire hard and causing it to crash through the window and land onto the gated spikes below.

John stares down at the dead, motionless figure, his adrenaline still pumping and ready for more. After a few minutes, his nerves cool down and he regains his stable mind.  
"Ugly bastard...." mutters John as turns around and heads towards the western door. Once through, he looks around to make sure no monsters are sneaking up on him, once satisfied he heads down the stair case to his right and back onto the first floor of the school. When he gets onto the first floor, he heads down the accompanying stair case to his left and right into the basement floor. In there, he goes through the eastern door and into the boiler room. As he walks into the room, he turns on his flashlight to illuminate the dark room. He can see the boiler and it's on-switch, but when he presses it, it does not respond. That's when he sees the gas cap on the floor and looks at the fuel deposit, which is empty to his displeasure.

He swipes his hand down his face and closes his eyes, a bit pissed at his rotten luck. But, he then remembers the memo he found in that locker room and how it said to ask the Janitor to fetch supplies from the Shed in the back of Midwich. He leaves the room, deciding to head for the shed and possibly acquire some fuel for the bloody boiler. As he heads up the stairs and through the northern door, he remembers his wounds from the fight earlier. Deciding to heal them before they scar, John takes out a Health Drink and forces himself to drink half of it, which is good enough to heal his facial wounds completely.  
"Gahh....when I get out of here, I'm going to get myself a twelve litter of sweet tea" remarks John as the horrid taste of the health drink dwells inside his mouth.  
Once done, he goes through the door to his left in the northen hallway of the school's first floor and into the entrance to the school's playground.

John finds the door locked and secured with a rusty lock. Figuring for the lock to be weakened since it's rusted, John grabs his emergency hammer and slams the blunt end of the hammer onto the lock. With visible distortion, the lock begins to give away but requires more force, in which John assaults it once more with a mighty blow. The lock then breaks and falls onto the floor, opening a new path for John and giving him access to the outside world, once more. On the outside, the cool, gentle breeze caresses John's face like a loving mother to her cute infant. John walks through the playground, seeing teeter totters, jungle jims, etc. That's when he sees the shack, alone and surrounded by uncut, wild grass and vegetation. He gets to the shack, opening the door and going inside. Inside, his flashlight is the only source of illumination. But, even with its minor help, John manages to find a gas can.

He shakes it a bit, the can being half-full but still adequate enough to power for a few hours. With it in hand, John exits the aging edifice. Outside, John starts to get a bit antsy. He knows that since he's outside, so are those Screechers. But he gets to the backdoor entrance to the school in time and avoids any unnecessary confrontations. Inside, he runs to the boiler room and charges through several of the doors in his way, but he gets to his destination in time and fills it up with fuel, in which he presses the button and the school is re-supplied with heat and electricity. He lays the can onto the floor and smiles, knowing that one of his tasks in complete. But that's when, he hears the sounds of a piano.


	12. Chapter 19

Silent Hill: The Inner Monster

Page 18

By John Priest (Noctros, Efrit, Drake, etc)

* * *

*Tai's story*

"M-my name?" Stutters out Tai as she looks at the stranger in front of her, who she knows she at least owes her name.  
"Yes, your name. What is it?" Asks the patient man.  
She swallows some air, gulping as she looks away from the stranger, who sighs with a tone of frustration at the prolonging of an answer. As they stand in each others presence, an aura of uncomfortable tension begins to permeate the air, rising like the developing edifices of Ancient Rome. After several minutes, Tai begins to open her mouth, but the stranger sigh's and turns around.

A bit surprised by this sudden action, Tai moves forward "W-wait " Stutters out Tai as her shyness envelops her along with her natural fear and hatred of men.  
The stranger turns around, with his eyebrows raised and replies "What?"  
Tai swallows some air before saying "Tai...my name is Tai...."  
The man smirks a little, holding out his hand and replying "Jake, Jake Furgo"  
She hesitates a bit as the hand reaches out, almost bringing her arms up in defense as if he was to strike her, but she manages to control this and stops it from becoming apparent.

She puts forth her hand, shaking his hand slowly "N...nice to meet you..." stuttering a bit out of her uneasiness towards men in general.  
Jake smiles, trying to seem less hostile to Tai, but she only looks to her left as they stop shaking hands and return to the spots on which they stood previously.  
"So, what's the plan now?" Questions Jake as he turns to his right and slowly walks a bit.  
This question of sorts, surprises Tai, who had no plans on joining up with him and exploring the entirety of the complex with a person who she admittedly didn't trust. Subsequently, judging from the countenance of Tai's face, Jake dissects what she's feeling and is a bit disappointed.

"Well-" Begins Tai, but she is quickly interrupted by Jake, who asserts "You weren't thinking of going through this hell hole alone, were you?"  
This spot on response to her intentions, sort of surprises Tai as she listens to it throughly and responds "I can do fine on my own..." in which, she brush's against Jake's shoulder as she strides towards the door.  
But before she can even reach for the door handle, Jake grabs her left shoulder with his right hand and says "Don't you get it? We are in a living nightmare " Warns Jake in a high, bordering a yell, voice.

This sudden act of physical touch, causes Tai's heart to race, and her mind to go unstable, resulting in a heavy slap across Jake's face as she screams "DON'T TOUCH ME " In which he recoils back, cursing slightly at the force of the Slap.  
She raises her lead pipe and grips it in both hands tightly as she glares at Jake with her eyes seething with anger. Jake chooses his actions carefully, slowly rubbing the spot on which she slapped him and not moving an inch towards her. This continues for several minutes before Tai turns around and quickly dashes through the door and out into the accompanying hallway, leaving a still Jake in her wake.

As she swiftly moves throughout the still hallway, her breaths of frustration are the only sounds echoing throughout the building. With her latest altercation strictly her only focus, she fails to notice the empty chairs and desks. She goes through another door and into the hallway next to the stage. Once in there, she turns to her right and tries to open the door to the Curtain Control room. She luckily, yet strangely finds it unlocked and proceeds to walk right into the room. Inside, the room's lights have already been turned on, which ease's Tai's sight and allows her to look for anything of interest. On top of the control panel, she sees a note and grabs it.

"May 6th, 2000: Personal log of The Janitor

Today was sort of odd. While I was cleaning the hallways near the Dressing Rooms, I could swear I heard those siblings, *Words have faded* and *Words have faded*, arguing with each other, with the youngest seemingly winning the argument. It sounded brutal, the oldest trying to set down her foot, only to be slapped aside like a peasant by her younger sister. I saw them both come out, the younger stomping like a rhino and the older, very timidly. When I walked past them, I could swear the older sibling glared at me with an evil eye of sorts. Whatever she did, I haven't felt that good ever since, like someone is watching me...

Until Tomorrow  
Jason Guantillie "

Another journal log from The Janitor's book. She wonder's what she'll discover at the end of the logbook. Will it be just another casual document, or perhaps it'll reveal some sort of shocking twist? Whatever the case, she'll have to continue on, even if she doesn't find an ending for that interesting story. She decides to get out of the poorly maintained control room, for the dust has already begun to agitate her nose and soon enough, she'll sneeze hysterically. She goes through the exit door to the stage, closing the door behind her and turning on her flashlight as she enters the sight hindering, ever consuming darkness of the auditorium.

Inside, her flashlight barely affects the illumination of the room, only opening a small, circular hole for her eyesight. She walks slowly across the wooden stage, making sure she does not tread off the stage and onto the carpeted floor beneath her. She walks across the earth-colored stage, her feet touching one plank at a time. As she becomes correctly positioned in the middle of the stage, she looks to her right and sees scenery for The Swan Princess. She smiles at seeing the scenery, having always loved this romantic, yet sad play. But, as she sees the plastic swans, her mind starts to flash, going through various memories of the past, hurting her head as they whirl around her head, like a tornado of the mind.

Then, from out of nowhere, come the voices of strangers. Arguing like children, their tones different from each other. One's is small, yet full of malice. Yet, the other's is stronger, yet infused with a mixture of sadness and fear. They continue to yell profusely, confusing Tai and causing her to grab her head in pain and stumble across the stage as they echo throughout her head, like a rock inside a deserted school hallway. Suddenly, distracted from the voices, she fails to notice the end of the stage behind her. She stumbles one last time, her head clearing just as she begins to fall. Time seems to slow down, her heart beat becoming the only sound as she slowly descends. She prepares herself for the incoming pain, hoping to not hurt her head too badly, but a dark hand shoots forth and grabs her vest, hauling her back onto the stage and out of danger.

Once back onto the stage, she collapses onto her knee's and trembles as she regains her sanity. As she regains her composure, she begins to hear the words of a man, asking if she's okay. She looks up to her right and sees Jake, wearing a slightly concerned, yet serious look on his face as he repeats his question to her.  
She shakes her head a couple of times and replies "Y-yeah....I'm okay..." trembling a bit as she responds.  
Jake's not convinced though, he set's both of his hands onto her shoulders and lightly moves his hand in front of her eyes, saying "look at my hand, follow it"  
She follows his instruction and follows his hand, In which he becomes less worried and as a result, removes his hands from her, apologizing for his sudden act of physical touching.

After a few moments of her kneeling onto the floor and Jake occasionally looking at her, making sure she's all right, she finally regains her composure and begins to stand up, no aid being offered from Jake, who didn't even hesitate because of his previous experience with her. Once on her feet, she rubs the temples of her forehead because of the headache, which resulted as an aftereffect of the strange experience. They look at each other, not talking for a bit, until Jake decides to break the silence and say "So, what the hell just happened with you?"


	13. Chapter 20

Silent Hill: The Inner Monster

Page 19

By John Priest (Noctros, Efrit, Drake, etc)

* * *

*John's story*

As John walks through the stuffy, poorly maintained hallway, he can't help but get lost in the uninhibited melody, echoing throughout the hallways like the scream of a banshee, yet unaffected by its distance from John's eardrums, as if he was right next to a performing pianist. Step by step, John gets closer to the music room and hopefully, to the source of the noise disturbance. His allergies begin to flare up once more, causing him to cough a couple times before managing to get it under control, no doubt caused by the dense layer of dust surrounding him. His skin begins to crawl as he pasts the neighboring doors, swearing that he just saw a door close by itself or some unseen figure lurking in the shadows. Hiding in the walls, lurking throughout this seemingly abandoned school, and constantly playing with his psyche. Shrouded in the dark, their teeth razor sharp, wanting his soul, wishing for his heart, these damned beings know no bounds in their heinous games of torture and psychological dread. In every step he takes, John feels watched and unsafe, constantly on guard in case one of these fell apparitions decide to confront him.

Never the less, John remains ever vigilant in pursuit of his goal: The Music Room. Finally, after what seemed to be an eon of doubt and fear, John arrives at the door leading to the music room, just as the music stops and the atmosphere once again, becomes quiet and unnerving. Carefully and quietly, John grips his emergency hammer in both hands and bursts through the door. Once inside, John is greeted by the shriek of a frightened girl, finding the source to be Nalia. Clearly taken off-guard, John's mouth gapes wide as he stares at the one he thought to be lost. Nalia though, is too shocked by this sudden act to see his own confusion and takes a few breaths before calming herself down and sitting back down onto the piano chair.  
"John, please don't ever do that again, I tend to get frightened easily...." trails off Nalia, for she is slightly ashamed at being so cowardly and as such, lowers her head.  
John, after several moments of plain shock, finally recovers his senses and comes back to the world of the sane.

"Nalia? Where did you go to? I've been looking everywhere for you" questions John in a concerned tone, making his confusion apparent alongside his curiosity of her well-being.  
Upon hearing this, Nalia's face becomes a countenance of bewilderment.  
"John? Are you alright?" Questions the concerned, young lass.  
Upon hearing this, John's head bob's back a bit out of confusion, what does she mean, is he alright. Of course he's alright, why wouldn't he be?  
Baffled by this question, he decides to save it for a later time and replies "Don't get off subject, I was worried Nalia when you just disappeared after I went inside that restroom." Using a mixture of concern and mild frustration as his tone.  
Nalia starts to worry about John, showing a clear sign of timidness by use of her body language.  
"John....don't you remember telling me to stay in here?" asks a concerned Nalia.  
"W-what? No....I don't..." trails off John as he tries too somehow, regain any possible memories he may have blockaded as he went to go and power the generator.

But, no memories come up. No matter how hard he tries, he cannot remember telling Nalia that. In fact, he can't remember seeing Nalia, at all, after the bathroom incident. Confused by these thoughts, he closes his eyes and shakes his head, slowly stopping till e's only rubbing the temples of his head. These thoughts, these perplexing questions cause him to get a headache. This headache is further worsened by his mind, flashing back and forth, trying to piece fact from fiction. He shakes his head once more, this time establishing it clearly in his head, that this is just a delusion....some trickery illustrated by this accursed town. Unluckily, its illusion accomplishes something: it causes John....to remember....

Several, perplexing moments pass. Nalia begins to constantly ask if John is alright, but he doesn't hear her. All he hears, are the memories of old. Children playing their instruments, all of them laughing happily and in union as their teacher plays them a new melody. All, but one, one unknown figure sitting with its arms around its legs. A boy, one of light hair yet darkened aura. Sitting there, with an expression of loneliness being the most unique thing about him. Neither his classmates nor his teacher see it though, lost in their deluded attitudes of joy, unaware of the impending stress that awaits them all in high school. But for now, in the grade of the 8th, they merely enjoy their time together as friends, so that it won't always be so bad when they are enemies. The little boy knows none of this happiness, plagued with thoughts of depression and wishes of acceptance, when he knows deep down, that they'll never truly accept him. He never wished to be so....unique, so....uncommon. Instead of being a regular boy, concerned only with jokes and girls, he is of an uncommon brand. So imaginative, yet so innocent, all he wished to do was express himself and show that he's a good boy. But, none of them would give him A chance...

John's eyes begin to water up, as his face continues to be stuck into the trance his psyche forced, upon his unwilling mind. Nalia sees these tears and desperately tries to snap him out of the illusion he's experiencing. She shakes and shakes him, saying words of kindness and gentleness, hoping that one of those words, may cause him to be happy again. This charade of sorrow would've continued, had it not been for the sudden crash of something above them, snapping John out of his delusion and catching Nalia's attention as well.

"What was that?" Mutters John, forcing out his first word since the incident began inside his mind.  
"I don't know...." trails off Nalia, who quickly realizes John is back and hugs him.  
"Oh! John!, What happened to you? Why did you cry?" Speaks Nalia as she looks up at him with tears beginning to swell into her eyes.  
John sees these tears and quickly wipes them away with his fingers and a gentle smile, along with answering her "Just...bad memories...that's all...it's nothing...." assures John as he kindly smiles at her.  
She smiles back, hugging a bit more before letting go and saying "Should we go check out the roof?"  
"Yeah, who knows what may have happened up there" responds John, in which they smile at each other once more, before gathering their things and heading out.

Once out of music room and near the stair case, which leads to the roof, their minds begin to go back to an eased state of calm. They haven't said many words to each other, but they both know that its best to not talk now. Once they arrive at the exit to the roof, John checks the knob and finds that it has rusted over. John curses inside his mind at their luck, with Nalia letting out a small sigh, signaling both of their displeasure of the situation at hand.  
But, seeing that the door is made out of flimsy metal, John grabs his emergency hammer in both hands and says "Get back, I'll break down the door" as he raises it above his head and waits for her to get out of possible range.  
Complying with his command, Nalia moves aside as John looks at her. Once she is out of the way, he swings the hammer hard, nearly destroying the very knob he's aiming at and accomplishing his purpose. He gives Nalia a little smirk, who responds in a childish grin of joy as he pushes the door open with his massive hand and motions for her to go first, because to him, chivalry is not dead, not yet anyway.

On the outside, the sky has taken a grey color, signaling the coming of night. For some reason, the very thought of a night in this town, gives John goose bumps. He can barely stand it in the daytime, so it's no real surprise that the thought of night here, would leave him wary and at unease. He thinks these thoughts as the crisp breeze, sways across his face, accompanied by snow and a semi-dense fog. He looks around to check on Nalia, who stares wondrously at the semi-awing sight of snow. Catching a few flakes on her tongue, causing her to grin with joy and John to smirk and shake his head in amusement. Knowing that they something may have happened up here, John leaves her to her play time and goes behind the roof entrance to check the western end of the school. Nothing strange, oddly. He lays his back onto the wall he presumes is behind him, but his back instead, feels the horrid feeling of bone and flesh.

In which, John looks behind him and steps back instantly. He is shocked to find the semi-mummified, semi-mutilated remains of some sort of humanoid figure. It's eyes still fleshy, carrying a vacant yet disturbing stare. John, becoming slowly desensitized to such grisly sights, manages to hold the contents of his stomach, inside his stomach as he inspects the corpse. It's stomach cut open, partially frozen yet still oddly damp with few juices aligned inside it. It's intestines spread to four different corners, looking like dried jerky to the inspecting individual. Bone is somehow fused together with its upper torso segments, looking like some confusing configuration of bone and ice. John backs away from the figure, looking behind him to gain some fresh air and then continuing with his inspection. When he looks beneath the scrotum area, he sees some sort of obstruction, sticking out of the backside of the being. With hesitation, he grips the obstruction and quickly slides it out of the icy flesh it was encased in.

Once the object is out of the creature, John catches his breath before standing up and seeing what he just gained. To his surprise, it is a sword. Various markings ordain the slick, flame-like sword. No obtrusion's, no rust, just confusing symbols on it and a hilt that look's like it was made with the sword in whole. That's when it hits him. The melody on the piano notes, "To gain the flame, you must listen to their pain". This is the Sword of The Pure Flame. He briefly grins at his luck of find the blade, but his eyes meet those of the corpse and his grin quickly dissipates. With The Pure Flame in hand, he stands up and strolls off to find Nalia and hopefully continue their adventure.


	14. Chapter 21

Silent Hill: The Inner Monster  
Page 20  
By John Priest (Efrit, Drake, Noctros, etc)

* * *

*Tai's Story*

"I...don't know...." trails off Tai as she grabs her head, her mind scattered as a result of the recent mental incident.  
Jake gives a look of confusion mixed with frustration at Tai. He's getting tired of this little game she's playing, wishing that she'd be more clear and less hostile to him. But, it's clear to him, that for now, she'll remain untrusting of him. What causes him to vacillate though, is the thought of what might happen should she get in more trouble. But, he decides to leave this precarious woman to her own devices and try to find his own way out of this hell.

With this decision, firmly in mind, he sighs one last time and turns away, walking to the edge of the stage and jumping off.  
This action surprises Tai "W-where are you going?" Stating in a timid tone, made more clear by the look in her achromatic colored eyes.  
He proceeds to simply walk ahead, replying "I'm tired of your unyielding mistrust of me, when you're ready to trust me, then maybe we can talk" as he heads towards and through the main two auditorium doors, leaving an emotionally confused Tai, behind.

Silence, is the only thing accompanying her now. That, and the shroud of darkness around her. Tai feels a bit bad, was it really that bad to try and trust him? After all, he did save her from those possessed dolls. No....NO! Screams her sub-consciousness, she cannot trust him! He's a man, he would've likely had used her, had she trusted him. Just like how she trusted that one man, and in the end, she payed for it with the loss of her delicate innocence. As these bad memories rush back into her head, her face contorts into a spiteful grimace. Her body shakes with anger, resulting in her raising and slamming her foot down upon the stage's wooden floor, along with uttering out a gruff breathe of air.

The heat of her anger, causes her to stubbornly stomp her way across the stage and towards the Storage room to her right. She doesn't care if there is a dead body or a monster in there, she just wants to get out of that room. Once she's crossed through the storage's threshold and into the meager room, she closes the door behind her and tries to relax. He's gone now, she won't have to worry about being confronted by him any longer, she tells herself, but she knows she's lying to herself. She will see him again, and even if he's absent, she is still a tad bit worried that she was too unfriendly towards to him. These persistent thoughts, will true in a sort of form, are rather insignificant, for what happened to her, will never be forgotten nor forgiven.

Inside the small room, Tai takes a few breathes, closing her eyes and trying to calm down. Even if it is justified, she hates having to be reminded of that horrid incident. It only helps to hurt her more, especially since....since Kate's death. Upon remembering Kate, Tai can't help but come to tears. How her friend died saving her, how she always tried to protect her, even in the face of dread. That's when Tai finally crumples into a ball and starts to lightly cry. Her heart aches for her lost friend, who was like a mother to her. Even though she had a caring mother already, she loved Kate just as much. They were both inseparable, refusing to leave each other behind in any scenario. She was like Tai's balance to Tai's inner demons. Even when the darkest recesses of her mind managed to consume her, Kate was like that shining ray of light, breaking through the darkness and saving her from herself. Always smiling, always caring, Kate was like the incarnation of good to Tai.

Though she is veiled in tears, she can't help but smile as she starts to remember more memories of Kate. She remembers the time she first met Kate, how she was struggling to fit in Illinois. A Shy, northern girl like her, going to college in one of the middle states. At first, it was awkward for her, she'd try to make friends, but she'd end up doing something embarrassing and messing the attempt up. But one day, while she was shopping for groceries, she ended up short on cash. She forgot that she had used most of her money to pay the rent and as such, didn't really realize how low on money she'd be. As she was at the register, she tried looking for more money but she couldn't find any.  
That's when from behind, she heard "Excuse me, ms." And turned around to come face to face, with a gentle expression.  
She was sort of taken surprise, still shy from her recent move to Illinois, replying "Y-yes?".  
What Kate did next, will never leave Tai's mind.  
She opened her purse and gave her a hundred-dollar bill, saying " Here, I don't really need this, but you seem too"with a bright smile.  
At first, she hesitated to take the money, but Kate urged her too and she payed for her groceries.

After she got her groceries into her car, Tai found the woman sitting on a bench and offered to take her home, which she graciously accepted. As she drove, they talked. Tai mostly talked, but Kate talked some too, preferring to listen and understand than chat though. When they finally got to Kate's apartment, they learned that they both live in the same complex. So, they both took their respective groceries and chatted as they walked into the building. After that, they both began to talk commonly, till they both grew to become friends, staying close to each others side. Oh, those days of innocence, those days of peace, cause Tai to once again cry, but this time, shed tears of joyful remembrance, instead of sorrow. These few moments of peace, calm her nerves. Putting her at ease and increasing the duration of her smile.

After several more peaceful moments of tranquility, Tai stands back up and uses her left hand to wipe away the remaining tears. She closes her eyes and leans her head up, breathing in a deep breathe and letting it go as quick as it came. She then opens her eyes and tilts her head back into its normal direction, grabbing her lead pipe and her handgun to make sure they are both still there. She places the handgun inside her left pocket and firmly grips the lead pipe in her right hand as she firmly adjusts the flashlight clipped to her shirt, making sure that the illumination is just right. Once her curiosity is sated, she looks around a bit, hoping to find some sort material that may be useful to her. She spots a case of handgun ammunition on a shelf and gladly takes it, for you can never have too much ammunition, especially in a hell like this.

Just as she turns around and starts to walk, she trips and hits her shoulder on the floor. She utters out a groan of pain, looking at her shoulder to make sure it hadn't bruised as a result of the fall. She uses her flashlight to look around the room, in order to find the perpetrator of the act. What she finds, is a rather long can of medium thickness. She stands back up and goes over to the can, grabbing it and shaking it to see if anything is inside. To her surprise, she finds it to be sort of heavy, but with something inside it, that's for sure. She tries to unfasten the lid, but due to her small frame, she doesn't exactly have the most strength, so she cannot unfasten it. But she doesn't give up, she puts it in her right pocket, hoping that she'll find some way to open it. As she finishes that, she decides it is time to move on and heads to the door on her left, in which she opens it and goes through, back into the auditorium.

Once outside of the room, she carefully treads down the wooden steps, lead pipe griped firmly in both hands. She's cautious, and for a very good reason. The monsters in this town, seem to disappear and reappear at any time, awaiting the right moment, in which they can surely kill or scare their victim. But, as she walks through the isle and towards the double doors, which lead to the lobby, she finds no source of aggression or threat to her well-being, just empty, silence. She's nearly at the doors, when she hears the thud of a cushion to her right. She swallows a bit of air, unsure of what may happen next. But, after several minutes of anticipation, she accepts the seemingly harmless matter at hand and goes towards the seats, trying to find which one that fell.

One by one, she searches through the aligned seats, quickly growing board from the situation. She comes to the end of the first row and luckily, finds the last seat missing its cushion, which lay before Tai's feet. Tai picks up the weathered pillow, which has clearly not been replaced in quite some time. She dusts the cover off and flips it around, searching it for any obtrusion's or noticeable marks. But she finds none, throwing the pillow to the side and huffing a bit. She begins to leave when she hears a crumpling sound beneath her right foot. She points the flashlight to her foot and sees a folded note. She bends down and picks it up, putting it in her right pocket for later. With this done, she quickly sprints down the seats and into the isle, heading towards the door and quickly going through them, to avoid the potential danger inside the dark auditorium.


	15. Chapter 22

Silent Hill: The Inner Monster  
Page 21  
By John Priest (Efrit, Drake, Noctros, etc)

* * *

*John's Story*

As he turns the corner of the cube-shaped room, he scans the surrounding area. He quickly locates Nalia, who is happily playing in the snow. He smiles slightly, finding Nalia's child-like joy, derived from such a simple thing like snow, to be cute. Deciding to not interrupt her brief situation of serenity, John walks to his left and lay's his back on the wall. Several minutes pass as John watch's Nalia enjoys this brief time of tranquility. He knows they should get moving, but he also knows that this may be one of the only moments that they'll have that'll be this peaceful. Nalia meanwhile, is laughing in joy as she clumps together some snow and throws it in the air, letting it fall onto her head and touch her with its cold fingers.

This peaceful time lasts for twenty more minutes, in which it is abruptly interrupted by a crash coming from the shack in the school playgrounds. Both John and Nalia instantly take notice, turning their head's to the direction of the disturbance and waiting for something to follow. When nothing appears after several elapsing minutes, John and Nalia turn their heads and look upon each other. John motions for Nalia to come to him, using hand gestures to make sure she gets them and comes to him. She follows as instructed and heads over to him, lightly skipping her way over to him.

"Nalia, I'm sorry to interrupt your playtime, but we need to go" informs John with a clear tone of urgency in his voice.  
Nalia smiles a bright countenance, just as she always has, and replies "Hehe, no worries John, I understand." In which she passes John and hum's as she begins to walk through the open door and down the stairs.  
John laughs a bit to himself and shakes his head with a smile on his face, as he follows her. As they go down the stairs, they make sure to be careful. They both know that just because there wasn't a monster their before, doesn't mean it will be the same when they come back. Thankfully though, there aren't any monsters awaiting them just as they set foot back onto the second floor.

For a few seconds, they remain in the same spot, unsure on what to do next. They could go to the shack and try to find out what made the disturbance. But, if they did that, they could potentially be walking into a trap. But if they spend too long wandering around in this school, they'd likely become trapped inside this town. John sighs in mild frustration, his mind confused on what to do. One mess up and he could doom not only himself, but Nalia too. He doesn't want to lose her, not after almost losing her like last time. This time....he won't fail, he'll save her. With this focus firmly established inside his mind, he turns to her and smiles, motioning for her to follow, which she so obediently does. Traversing the hallways, they remain on guard. Trying their hardest to remain careful and not stray too far into carelessness.

Oddly, as they tread their way through the eastern wing of the second level, the air begins to become stuffy. Hampering their passageways, they are forced to breathe even harder as they to the stairs and proceed down them to the east side of the first level. They manage to get through the stairs without an altercation occurring. They step onto the floor gently, hoping to not alert any monsters near by. The air inside the school, has only gotten worse. It's gotten extremely humid, bordering un-breathable. As a result, both John and Nalia have had to try harder to get adequate breathes. John's beginning to suspect that these slowly worsening conditions, are a result of the town's manipulation, possibly trying to nudge them to explore the shack outside, from which, came an ostentatious noise. .

John stops for a moment, deciding to rest momentarily and hopefully cool down. Nalia follows his example and sits down on the floor, letting out a breath of air just as the hem of her coat touches upon the wall behind her. As he does this, John finds a lonely bench across an open classroom door and sits on the once deserted bench, momentarily giving it an accompanying presence. As he sits on top of the wooden bench, which in itself, is blatantly plain and uninspiring, yet simply comforting for some who seek rest from the ache of their tired limbs. John adjusts his position on top of the wooden bench, so that his moments of relaxation, won't be interrupted by some sort of physical disturbance from the bench itself.

After finding a good spot, he adjusts his large body frame and fits it well, allowing his back to have some support along with his lower extremities to remain uninterrupted in their feelings of comfort. As he sits there, pondering on what to do next, he looks into the vacant classroom across from him. He sees a multitude of empty desks, some turned over while others in the correct position.  
He sighs, muttering "School..." to himself as he closes his eyes.  
Unluckily for him, this isn't the best thing to do. He starts to remember his school days, more specifically, his high school days.

It was a cloudy day, in the middle of October. Inside literature class, he was trying to study for an exam. As such, he was minding his own business as the people around him were talking about un-related matters and such. The teacher had to go out for sometime, likely going to deal with some matter un-related to class. So, while she was gone, the class was un-attended. Now, this would've been a regular thing if the class John was in, was behaved and respectful. But, they weren't, with a majority of class being obnoxious at times. They all got good grades, with only a couple kids failing, but most were in the low B area. John himself was in the high A grade average, being keen and smart in literature.

As such, he was sort of a special target for those of lower intelligence, mostly the jocks and preps. During that day, he was picked on as he was trying to study. Being called the Jolly Green Giant since he wore a green sweater that day and of course, with his abnormal height of 6'5. He mostly ignored them, but when his own flesh and blood, his own kin, his sister began to fuel the flames, it started to get him.  
"Hey vege-chest, nice leaf's ya'h got there!" remarked one imbecile  
"Hey Johnny Appleseed, why don't'cha go play with the trees outside?" remarked his own sister.  
He hated how she'd help them make fun of her. Especially when she used his love of nature against him. In the end, he'd get hurt and end up moody for the rest of the day.  
Sometimes, he'd wish as he lay on his bed, that he'd been born an only child or perhaps not born at all. But, in the end, it didn't matter how much he wished, it wouldn't change the reality he's been born into.

As John is remembering these memories, Nalia is humming to herself, blissfully unaware of what is occurring between John and his mind. Before he can manage to come out of his memory induced trance, Nalia looks at him and begins to talk, but quickly stops as she sees how he's positioned and barely moving. She carefully get's up and walks over to him, scared that something might be wrong with him.  
She slowly reaches out to John's shoulder and lightly shakes him, saying "J-john...are you ok?" very timidly, her voice full of crystal clear dread.  
John opens his eyes rather quickly, shaking his head afterwards and groaning a bit as he looks beside him and sees Nalia, who's eyes are nearly filled with tears as her lips begin to tremble with fear.  
John is surprised by this and is quick to ask "Nalia? What's wrong?" in a concerned tone.  
She doesn't answer, instead she quickly hugs John, who's eyes widen in surprise as she embraces him.

"*sobs* J-john...I'm so glad your okay" answers a tearful Nalia.  
John can only pat her on the back, confused with what is happening. She must be easily scared if she had become terrified from John merely closing his eyes for a couple minutes. Then again, he's been told that he almost looks dead when he does sleep, so maybe that's why. Whatever the case, he feel's obligated to try and elevate her feelings.  
"It's okay Nalia, I was just remembering something" explains John  
John then get's out of her embrace and places his hands on her shoulders "Listen, I'm sorry if I worried, I just had something on my mind, I'm ok now, I promise" assures a gentle sounding John.  
Nalia wipes her eyes and smiles at John, replying "O-ok *sniff*" Nalia as she smiles, in which John replies "Good, now let's get out of this place, it's starting to make me sweat" replies John, in which John stands up and with Nalia in hand, heads towards the northern end of the hallway.


	16. Chapter 23

Silent Hill: The Inner Monster  
Page 22  
By John Priest (Efrit, Drake, Noctros, etc)

* * *

*Tai's Story*

Once in the bright illuminating light of the entrance, Tai is finally able to relax, even if it is for just one slim, serene moment of silence. Her pulse has luckily, decreased and returned to a state of calmness, far away from the rapid beat that once perpetrated her body, deriving from her fear of this theater and it's cruel mind games. But, that fear no longer nests inside her body, for like the parasite inside of a dog, the foul taint of dread has been expelled and Tai has been allowed to once again, re-capture her composure. With it nestled closely to her sanity, she moves forward through the expertly decorated room. The glass chandelier above sparkles brilliantly as rays of artificial light, shine through it. On top of the rings holding the chandelier together, are a varying number of jewels, which while fake upon close inspection, are nearly identical to the real article from far away. The wallpaper covering the walls of the room, are decorated with the designs of the classic theater. Shakespear is a dominant theme, with scenes from his various works painted on the paper. Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, etc., you name it, it's on it.

She was never a big fan of him, but she has always had respect for him, for his talent. She herself, has always preferred a more fantasy approach in plays. The Swan Princess, ironically, is one of her favorites. But, she didn't like how it ended, preferring a happier ending herself. But life doesn't always end happily, which she had to learn in a despicable way. Noticing these dark thoughts, which are beginning to bubble inside the pool of her mind, she changes the topic inside her mind, to something far more joyful: Escaping. The very thought, elevates her mood. To escape this hell, to perhaps wake up and this was all just a horrid dream.... The possibilities are wide and hopefully in her favor. She allows herself to be deluded into this fantasy, refusing to accept the reality, in all it's harshness and unfair hands.

She is enveloped in the daze of her fantasy, her eyes closed to fully embrace it. She likely would've stayed inside it had she been allowed too, but a tremor begins to occur, its mighty force causes the chandelier above, to drop the crystals inside it. She covers her head as she strides to get out of the falling debris. The crystals shatter on impact, their flaming beauty once bright, now extinguished. Tai quickly treads back to the door leading to the box office, wary of the objects above her head. Then, in one single moment, the grand chandelier that had recently hung above her head, comes crashing down to the earth, its remains laying upon the satin rug below it. Ache, is the only thing inside Tai's heart. Ache for the loss of such beauty, to see such a once pristine attraction, reduced to a former shell of its lost grandeur.

She slowly kneels next to it, picking up the many fragments, up with her hands. She noticeably shows an expression of sadness. As she scavenges through the remains, she comes upon an odd object. What she finds, is a Camera Lens. What was a camera lens doing inside of a chandelier? What is even more confusing, is that there is not a single softening object in the chandelier, by logical means, it should be destroyed, but it is not for some strange reason. In any case, she's received a new item, which is hopefully helpful. She stands up, finding no other item or object of interest here. She stands alone inside the dimly lit room. With the chandelier gone, the room has dimmed severely. No longer are the details of the hall visible, enveloped in a darkness of unnatural formation. Something......isn't right about this.

Knowing this, Tai slowly looks around the room, gulping a bit of air as she begins to worry. On the ground, underneath her feet, lies the lingering feeling of being consumed. She quickly decides to get out of the hall while she's still able to, turning to her left and going towards the doors leading to the left stairwell. As she opens the twin doors, she looks back one last time, surveying the damage done. With her last glance through, she turns and walks into the stairwell. Inside, the stairwell is fairly dusty, clearly it has not been cleaned in some time, but it is still is some good condition, if rather small.

Step by step, she ascends the powder blanketed stairs. Although she should be weary with monsters about, the grisly beings are the least of her worries. If she doesn't hurry up, she could potentially be harmed or even killed. Something has taken place of the solitude atmosphere, something....far more observant. She feels....that something is watching her. She can't say what, but she can say this. It's giving her goose bumps, crawling up her spine, and sending down chills of an uncertain focus. Unlike those monsters, which scare her, this....thing is striking at her confidence. It's hammering away at her courage, slowly breaking her down by supplanting her confidence with uncertainty. Her discomfort is visible. Her expression slightly arched into a minor frown, her shoulders slumping, and her movement slowed down to a cautious walk.

Finally, she gets out of the stairway, entering the second story level without hesitation. Once the door is closed behind her, she instantly feels the pressure lifted off of her conscience. With a large breathe, she re-barricades her mental defenses, hoping to fight off that suspicious atmosphere should it arise once more. She hopes it doesn't return, but with this town, she's unsure if she'd be that lucky in that regard. Nevertheless, she knows she needs to strive on, and she does. With the lead pipe in her right hand, she walks through the hallway timidly. Before she can even pass the first door though, she hears a crash coming from her right. She hesitates at first, but decides to go and investigate, knowing that usually a noise means something of importance like a clue, could be awaiting her.

She quickly tread's her way through the door, stopping instant once she begins hearing a voice coming from the Lighting Box room. She comes close to the door, intending to peak inside, but instead, the door opens and out comes Jake, visibly agitated. She freezes, not knowing what to do. Jake sees her at once, his brows rising in a questioning manner.  
"What you doing here? You stalking me now?" Spits out Jake in a hostile way, which hit's Tai and causes her to become agitated. "For your information, I'm exploring and hoping to find a way through this hell hole. So don't flatter yourself." Replies Tai as she puts her palms onto her hips and glares at Jake.  
They keep up this silent manner for quite a bit, before Jake just sighs "I don't have time for this, I need to get to the Green Room" replies Jake as he brushes past Tai "Why in a rush? Afraid I'll bite you?!" Asserts Tai, Jake stops in his tracks and turns around "Listen you arrogant woman! I'm not in the mood for you're crap, so drop it!" But she refuses too, walking up to him and getting into his face "After you, I'll in the meantime be checking out the right side of the second story" In which Tai walks pass Jake and through the northern door, not allowing him anytime to form a remark or rebuttal.

She's stopped once again by Jake, who follows her through the door "No use in doing that, the whole area, including the doors, are locked. I know, I tried getting through but they won't budge." Informs Jake, who sighs "Listen, I know we've had our....differences, but could you for once, just use reason and help me?"  
Tai shakes a bit at this prospect. She could go with him to the Green room, but she'd be trusting a stranger. Then again, he did save her life from those cursed dolls. Still, he's a man....but....maybe she should trust him....for now. She'll need help in getting out of this place, not to mention, she still feels guilty over treating Jake so badly before.  
"F....fine. Just lead the way, but be aware, I'm watching you, so don't try anything!" Warns Tai as she raises the lead pipe and points it towards Jake.  
Jake himself is surprised by this, but just shrugs and smiles a bit as he opens the door to his left and goes through it. Tai following in suit.

Once again, she's forced to go through another stairwell. Thankfully though, the atmosphere isn't as....creepy as last time. Jake and her make it through quite easily and swiftly, not wishing to spend any more time in this theater. But, as Jake goes through the doors, he stops. Tai follows him and joins his side, wondering what is the matter. But, at once, she knows. The lights, they are all out. No sort of illumination is present, not even from the doors leading to the outside. Just, pitch black darkness.  
Jake grabs her left hand "Let's....get out of her." Tai quickly agreeing and going with him.  
The other rooms aren't any better, each one as dark as the last. Jake and Tai both rely on her single flashlight for visualization of the rooms. Thankfully they come to the Green Room without any major issues and/or altercations. Jake quickly comes to the door and produces a key out of his pocket, putting it into the lock and unlocking the door. He motions for her to stay here as he goes in first. After several minutes, he opens the door from inside and nod's that the room is clear. Inside, the room is vastly up to date. Cameras, green screens, and other miscellaneous equipment. Tai flips the switch, not expecting the lights to come on, but miraculously, they do. Tai and Jake just stare at each other silently, both reflecting confusion onto each others eyes.

That's when, Tai remembers the lens she found. She takes it out of her left pocket and goes towards the central area. Out of the cameras, she sees that the middle one is missing its lens, so she proceeds to put the lens back on, succeeding after several minutes of struggling with the camera. Jake, who's near the technical area, glaces at the screens beside him and sees something odd. A flashing button, lighting up quite quickly. Guessing there would be no harm in seeing what it does, he presses the button. Instantly, the camera's are turned on and the screens all reflect one singular image: Tai, in some sort of twisted landscape. He briefly stares with a disturbed expression as he sees this, but manages to regain his grip and looks at Tai.

Unknown to Tai, she is right infront of a transformed Green Screen. Jake, seeing the twisted landscape reflected on the screens, on the green screen, rushes to get to Tai. She's confused at this sudden charge, panicking and bringing up the lead pipe. It's when she hears a strange scraping sound, that she looks behind herself. Her mouth gapes wide at the sight, unable to comprehend how this is possible. Jake manages to get to her and begins to shake her, to try and get her mind back, but it's to no avail. She is terrified. Then, as Jake is struggling with her, the screens behind him turn to static and a loud wail is heard as the green screen begins to expand. They cover their ears in a vain attempt to block out the noise, but it's no use. They pass out, unknowing that they've been transported, to the Otherworld.


	17. Chapter 24

Silent Hill: The Inner Monster  
Page 23  
By John Priest (Efrit, Drake, Noctros, etc)

* * *

*John's Story*

Both John and Nalia, exit the eastern hallway through the door at it's northern end. Through the door, they enter the Laboratory. Inside of the sterile and orderly room, are desks arranged in series of rows, the middle section being connected by sinks and gas outlets, with the western and eastern series of desks having their respective sinks and gas outlet to an adjoining end near the walls. The smooth, synthetic plastic tops, clean and whole, with no visible smudges, marks, or any other form of negative distinction. They carefully tread inside the room, making sure to look at the floor and under the desks, so that they won't be ambushed should they be preoccupied with a different matter. They take their time looking beneath the lengthy desks, finding only stray pieces of gum attached to the underside of each one. John get's done first, standing up and signaling to Nalia to come to him with a hand gesture.  
"Find anything?" Questions John, "No, sorry. Just icky, icky gum" responds Nalia, in which she goes over to a soap dispenser and acquires some soap, which she uses to wash her hands, wanting to rid herself of being near the chewed up pieces of flavored rubber.

John himself doesn't proceed to follow Nalia's example, being quite content with how his hands are hygienically. Instead, he quietly steps towards the teacher's desk, it being the only desk in here that could contain papers and all other sorts of materials. Once he's at his destination, he quickly sets a new objective and searches throughout the metal, cube shaped desk. Neither the main drawer, nor the drawers on the left of the desk contain anything useful, just useless pencils and ungraded papers. John lets out an audible sigh, a bit frustrated by his lack of luck in this particular room, which is further fueled by the ever-increasing heat inside this school. With a little bit hope though, he opens the right drawer. In it, he finds a glass vial, perfectly upright as it is held inside of a Test Tube Rack. He carefully lifts the rack by grabbing it on it's sides and places it on top of the desk. Bending over a bit, he views the insides of the vial. Inside, is a sort of lime green liquid, with a tiny label saying "Pure Concentrate Acid"

His face flashes a continence of caution for a moment before returning back to it's usual demeanor. He's especially careful in handling the dangerous chemical as he slowly picks it up and out of its rack. He grips it tightly in his right hand, making sure to not over do it, last thing he needs is a crippled hand. Nalia see's John's discovery and casually makes her way towards him. Once she's right beside him, she looks at his hand.  
"What's that?" Asks Nalia as she tries to get a good look at the vial, "Careful, it's acid. A Pure Concentrated sample." Warns John as she eyes it with curiosity.  
Upon hearing the warning, Nalia backs her head away from the vial. John laughs a bit to himself, making sure it's barely audible so Nalia hears a simple gruff chuckle.  
"Come on, let's get out of here. We can use the emergency exit over here" Directs John as he points towards the emergency exit.  
She nods her head and follows John as he turns around and heads towards the door.

Once they are at the door, John stops Nalia from proceeding through the door. He isn't ready to go so freely, he still remembers what occurred when he was outside before he entered the school. He briefly contemplates the situation, quickly forming a plan. With it in mind, he turns to Nalia.  
"Nalia, out there in the school yard, is dangerous territory. If you hear anything, a screech or something, I want you to run like hell. I want you to run straight to Janitor's Shack and close yourself inside it until I come for you." Instructs John, "B-but John...what about you? Just run with me, we could make it together " pleads Nalia, but John shakes his head and replies "I'm lugging around too much stuff, I'll have no choice but to fight. Please, just do this for me." Nalia show's a clear expression of worriment, but she turns her head to him and smiles slightly "Alright John." John smiles back "Thank you. Now then, let's go."

John slowly opens the door, pistol gripped tightly in his right hand. He leans his head out into the fresh air, briefly pausing to feel the soothing caressing hand of the gentle air as it hits his face. He looks around the yard, scanning for any sort of monster, but he finds none and slowly edges his body out of the laboratory and into the yard. He signals for Nalia to follow him and she does so. They carefully tread their way towards the wooden shack out in the far ends of the school playground. Nalia stays close to John, hugging herself as she walks in step with him. John makes sure that she's next to him, not content with her being any further than a hand's length away. They are almost halfway to the shack, when they hear the horrid screeches of the Decayed Avian's. Wasting no time, John yell's a Nalia to go, who hesitates but follows his orders after John yell's a second time. She bounds over the land like a wolf, quickly coming to her destination and following the instructions John gave her.

When she's finally gone and safe, John focuses himself on taking care of the monsters and making sure to avoid breaking the vial of acid he's placed in a small pocket on the left side of his duffle bag. He grips his pistol in both hands, aiming it as he scans the grey-ish blue horizon for the Avian's. Then, out of the west, come the apparitions. Shooting forth on their thin, skinless wings, fiercely coming down onto John's location as they see their prey. John quickly takes off the duffel bag and lays it onto the ground, quickly coming back up and shooting at the pair. The Avian's barrel roll constantly to avoid the bullets, successfully dodging them and closing in onto their prey. John continues to shoot, hoping to hit one as they get close, but he doesn't and in a result, begins to form another plan of action. He looks around his surroundings and notices the swing sets. He glances quickly at where he last saw the monster, but finds them gone.

Unsure, he backs away slowly from his current spot, making his way to the swing set, but that's when he sees the blur of their figures from behind him. He tries to get out of the way, but they are too swift. He is tackled in the back by one Avian, his back arching back and his chest out forth. Then, the other Avian swoops around John and slams right into his chest, knocking the breath out of him. The pain from this coordinated assault, erupts violently, wrecking havoc on John's body. As both monsters swoop back into the air, John falls onto the ground to his knees. He struggles to get onto his feet as the monsters above, taunt him with their wicked caws. When he manages to get a solid foothold, he dashes for the swing set. His hunters allow him to get close to the set before pursuing, playing with their meal. He successfully get's to the swings and turns around, waiting for his unsuspecting prey to chase their "meal". When they get near, just close enough so they won't be able to counter his next move, John lunges through one of the swings and lands onto the ground on the other side. The Avian's are surprised by this sudden move, trying to turn around just before they hit the swings, but they are too close. They crash into the swings, one get's tangled up in a swing as it crashes into one and tears it away from the set, the other crashing to the ground head first.

John luckily landed only a few inches away from the swing, allowing him to avoid getting caught in the mess that just occurred to the monsters. He stands up, putting the pistol into his right pocket and grabbing the emergency hammer, which he had placed under the strap on his back. He undo's the buttoning and pull's the hammer free, gripping it tightly in both of his hands. He gets to the tangled Avian first, which is struggling to get free as he comes closer. Seeing the twist on how the hunter had become the hunted in just a single moment, the monster let's out one final cry as John raises the hammer above his head and down upon the head of the Avian, crushing it instantly and causing it's head to become thin and pan-cake like, the various cracks each leak out cranial fluid and blood. Near him, the other Avian stands up, a bit dazed from the head-injury it suffered. It tries to bite John, but he hears it behind him and spins around, crashing the hammer right up against the monster's skull as he turns instantly. With the monster dead, John falls back upon his knee's and breathes hard. He tries to regain his composure, his body still aching from the assault he suffered recently.

He searches inside his inner pocket for a health drink, finding one and taking it out. He twists the led and quickly chugs the contents of the brown glass. Even though the fluid is foul tasting, he doesn't really taste it, more concerned with healing his injury. Once he's done, he throws' the drink onto the ground and wipes his mouth. Just as expected, his pain is elevated. He stands back up, shaking his head and gripping his hammer in his right hand. He spots his duffel bag and retrieves it, strapping it back around his shoulder. With that done, he heads to the shack, arriving at it after walking towards it for a few minutes. He knocks on the door, Nalia opening the door slightly and peeking out.  
"Nalia....open up and let me in...." Issues John as he looks at her with a tired expression. She's a bit taken back by his sullen continence, but proceeds as instructed.  
John walks inside the earth-colored shack, turning on his flashlight and looking for anything odd. Nalia begins to speak, but remains quiet when she see's John's determination.

He looks around the shack, lifting up the various supplies. Upon lifting a dusty old bucket, he finds a rusted lock. With some more clearing, he uncovers a secret door.  
"Well well, look what we have here" States John as he looks down upon the door  
"Hmm, got anything to get it open, John?" Asks Nalia. John searches his pockets for that screwdriver he found inside the school, knowing that with it, he can break the lock by hitting the end of the screwdriver with the end of his hammer, using the driver end to hopefully accomplish it. He finds the screwdriver inside of his left pocket and takes it out. With the end of the hammer in his right hand and the driver in his left, he goes onto his knee's and begins to hammer at the lock. Several minutes pass until he manages to chip the lock and break it with one final hit. Determining the driver to be useless now, John throws it to the side as he grabs the protruding latch of the secret hatch and opens it up. Surprisingly, the hatch is metal, likely being painted to look like wood so that it'd fool anybody looking around the bucket that originally covered the pad-lock.

"I'll go first, when I give you the ok, you come down" Instructs John as he slowly climbs into the hatch and looks at Nalia, who nods and waits for him. It takes some time, but he finally manages to get to the bottom of the shaft, ending up in a dimly lit room. The room is surprisingly clean, a strange opposite of the dirty and/or dusty rooms inside of Midwich. He looks around the room, deeming it to be safe after a few moments of scanning it for foes.  
"Nalia, come on down, it's safe" Yell's John up through the shaft and towards Nalia.  
She arrives 10 minutes later, carefully stepping off of the ladder and onto the floor, "Hey John".  
"Hey, close the hatch above you?" Questions John, "Yeah, made sure too. So, what now?" Asks Nalia, "We do what we've been doing best, explore." States John.  
John finds a door right behind the ladder, grabbing Nalia's hand and leading her through it. The hallway is also lit, but a bit brighter. The hallway was clearly dug some time ago, marble aligning the walls alongside the lights.

Their walk through the hallway, is uncomfortable. While the air is cool and refreshing, the atmosphere is oppressive. Neither of them feel at ease in here, especially with it's odd lack of doors. Nevertheless, they get to the end of the hallway, finding another door and treading right through it. It seems that they are alone in this odd place, no sign of monster or other human life. Through the door, they enter an oval shaped room. The room, while lit like the rest, is a mess. Over turned desks, torn papers, etc. John searches through the papers, forgoing the desks because they all have no drawers. Several minutes pass as he searches around the room, moving empty desks, shells of their former selves, out his way in a bid to find some sort of clue or note. Nalia keeps herself busy by sitting on a vacant chair, deciding to not disturb or possibly hamper his search. He finally finds a whole piece of paper.

" So yeah, I placed my glorious work of art, a sword I carved out of ice, inside the freezer in the eastern wing this morning. I love to use it when I'm monitoring the cells, to shut these brats up when they start crying and moaning for their "mommies" and "daddies". Hah, dumb little runts don't know that they'll never be seeing their folks, ever again. Strangely though, some of the kids have been disappearing lately. I'm suspecting the culprit to be George, he always was a bleeding heart. Whatever is the case, something's wrong here. Could swear I was hearing voices when I went down the eastern wing last night, sounded like children? Shouldn't be possible, since we stopped using the eastern wing about 10 years ago? Ah well, I'm sure it's just the hours getting to me"

There is no written author of the document, likely this was a page of that person's journal, or perhaps even a transcript. Whatever it is, it's a bit important, so John places it inside his inner jacket pocket and walks back to where he last saw Nalia. She's waiting for him when he locates her, swinging her legs slightly to pass the time.  
"Come on, time to go foraging for a chunk of ice." States John, "A chunk of ice?" Mutters a confused Nalia, "Just an expression, come on." Expresses John as he turns towards the eastern door and walks towards it with Nalia in tow.

Before they can exit the oval room though, John is forced to undo a series of locks. While most are minor and not that difficult, considering they strangely had their key's inside of them, the major vault-like lock placed in the middle of the door, forces him to assert his strength to get the blasted thing open. He manages to slowly turn it, but it takes some time to open it up, with each passing moment becoming more and more oppressive on his patience. He finally twists it open, an accompanying screech coming out as he forces the door open. With that done, he wipes the back of his hand up against his forehead, wiping off a few beads of sweat from it.

The hallway they enter, is damp and down, clearly showing signs of age. An odd contrast to the pristine marble corridor he and Nalia walked through. John guesses that since the eastern wing was not in use for some years, the people who were running this place, just let it go. Still, it's odd considering that a freezer, which was still in use, was down here. This little matter continues to nag at him as they make their way down the hallway. The hallway slowly descends as they continue to walk down it, eventually returning to the even surfacing it had when they first started through it. They come to one more door and open it, this time coming into a hallway, filled with prison cells. The bars are twisted and rusted, visible openings made as a result of the degradation of each set of bars.

"Stay close..." Warns John as he places his right hand on Nalia's shoulder and takes it off after issuing the warning.  
She nods to show him she understands and will obey, for now. The start to pace themselves, walking a bit faster than before. It's a bit before they arrive at the end, two doors and a stairwell greeting them as they arrive. He see's one of the rooms, labeled "Freezer" but looks through another door's front window, the door being labeled "Showers". That's when, John's eyes open wide with shock and, at once, know's why a "freezer" is down here. The "shower" room is dyed a murky green, skeletons bound to the walls, their expressions ghastly to look upon. John carefully opens the door to get a closer look at this morbid scene, signaling to Nalia to stay behind as he investigates.

He doesn't really know why he's feeling the urge to see this grisly scene, likely motivated by his natural curiosity. As he enters, his nostrils are assaulted instantly by the sick, foul stench inside the room, nearly gagging and forcing him to throw up, but he manages to keep his stomach and it's contents inside of him and not spilt upon the marble floor. He looks up as he is gripping his own mouth and nose with his right hand, laying his eyes upon an even more horrid truth. The skeletons, are mostly children. Their mouth's frozen in a final continence of pain and terror, remnants of flesh hanging off of their skulls alongside the strands of their own hair. The scene mortifies John, who has walked to the end of the room as he observed the fallen corpses of these poor lives.

Shower heads align all of the walls except the wall containing the exit, each one just above reach, fixed directly to face downward and nowhere else. John notices a note beside his left foot, bending over and picking it up.

It reads:  
"Just to let you know George, you'll need both The Holy Flame and The Corrupt Ice in order to gain access to the control room, in which, you can activate the carts in the basement, which you can use to transport yourself and/or anything else to whatever location you wish, including The Water Prison. Just make sure you take the door to the left when you enter the room after implanting the two items needed, otherwise you'll either end up in the storage closet or-

The rest of the note is un-eligible.

Upon reading this note, John is a bit glad he came to this room. He still wishes he didn't have to lay eyes on the scene laying before him, but what is done, is done. He smiles a bit to himself, assuring his mind that it's time to get out of this room. When he turns around and heads towards the door though, the door instantly slams shut, surprising both Nalia and John. John runs to the door, hitting it with his hands to try and get it open. Nalia tries her best to open the door, but the handle won't budge.  
"IT WON'T OPEN!" Screams Nalia in fear as she struggles to open it. John continues to hammer his hands down upon the door, "Damnit!" but it won't budge.  
That's when, he begins to hear a hiss, coming forth from the shower heads. His fears are realized as he begins to see the outline of what he suspected to be in those heads: Gas. A gas shower room, whom ever was the sick, twisted individual who came up with this room, has swiftly wrought the blunt of John's cursing.

His lungs burn as he inhales the odorless gas, coughing and wheezing constantly. Tears cloud his vision as he struggles to get the door open. He starts to feel his strength leave him, each struggle becoming more and more tiresome. That's when, he remembers the Acid. Thinking of no better use than now, John carefully yet quickly acquires the acid from it's pouch and opens it up, splashing the contents of the vial, straight onto the handle. The handle quickly dissolves, eaten away by the pure concentration of the acid. With one big charge, John breaks through the door and out of the room, gasping for clean air while kicking the door shut.

"Oh spirits, John!" Nalia rushes instantly to John's side, "I'm alright *cough*, I'm alright" sputters out John as he reaches inside his coat and produces a health drink, chugging this one half-way. His lungs cease to burn, but he continues to cough for a good minute or two before that too finishes and he's finally well.  
"What happened in there? The door just slammed shut and it wouldn't open!" Questions a frightened, deeply concerned Nalia, "I don't know....I was just making my way through that hell and, everything just turned insane. Don't go in there Nalia, dear god it's horrible." "What's horrible John? What?" John's a bit reluctant to answer her question, but proceeds to do so, "Children, Nalia, they gassed children to death" Nalia instantly straightens up, clasping her hands around her mouth in shock as she hears this.

"We need to get out of here" Asserts John as he begins to stand up, but Nalia forces him to lay his back to a wall and relax. "Don't, rest. What do you need?" John shakes his head and tries to wave away her offer "No, no. It may be too dangerous..." in which he tries to get back up, but Nalia stops him "I don't care, you've suffered enough for now, what do you need, please?" John looks into her deep, pleading eyes and gives in "I need The Corrupt Ice item inside that freezer, it should look like a sword..." Nalia stands up and heads off "Sword, got it" and through the freezer door, closing it behind her as she enters it.

John doesn't know how much time has passed since Nalia went off on her own, he's been laying in the spot Nalia placed him in, his eyes closed to try and get some rest. She returns a few moments later, shaking a bit but still in one piece.  
"Did you get the sword?" Asks John as he stands up, stretching a bit when he's upright. "Yeah, here you are John" Nalia gives John The Corrupt Ice sword.  
Upon laying his hands upon the frigid, glass-like blade, he is hit with a sense of unease. The obtrusions sticking out of the sword, are numerable and wild. As he read in the man's note/transcript, it is clearly carved and/or formed out of one huge piece of ice. He observes it for a few more moments, before reaching inside his duffel bag and pulling out The Pure Flame. He places his emergency hammer back into the strap on the back of his trench-coat and makes sure it's secured before putting both swords in a respective hand.

With that done, he uses his head to motion for Nalia to follow him, which she does, silent yet obedient. John lead's her down the nearby stairwell, treading carefully as does so. While this place may seem to be absent of monsters, he isn't going to take that chance. They go through one more door at the end of the stairwell, going through it and into another hallway, it's only available route being to the right. They walk their way through the hallway, making sure to look at all spots in the corridor, so that they might not be ambushed. Half-way down the hallway, John and Nalia both begin to hear the soft laughter of children. It starts to grow in volume as they head down the hallway, until it suddenly changes and turns into the wails of children. The lights behind them begin to flicker and turn off, slowly.  
John notices this "Nalia....run" in which he turns and starts to quickly make his way to the end of the hallway. Nalia follows as instructed and runs, easily keeping in pace with John. The lights behind them begin to turn off, quicker and quicker, till the darkness is on their heels.

The come to the end of the hallway suddenly, unsure of what to do. In front of them, are visible openings for a sort of item set. Knowing no other thing to do then, John shoves the swords into the slots. The swords stick into the slots and then twist slowly, before a large click is heard.  
"Nalia, give me a hand" Order's John as he grabs one handle and she does the same. They pull strongly, using the combined might of their own strength with their fear of the incoming darkness. Finally, the open the door wide, only to be consumed by a large, bright red light of ominous proportions.


	18. Chapter 25

Silent Hill: The Inner Monster  
Page 24  
By John Priest (Efrit, Drake, Noctros, etc)

* * *

*Tai's story*

There they lay, Tai and Jake, both of them laying face first on top of the organic, frost-bitten floor. The scenery all around them, has taken a drastic change in the motif. Once, where there was dust, now lies a varying amount of ice particles. Where wood and carpet once comforted the feet of people past, now lies an odd mixture of vines and frost. It is clear, that both Tai and Jake, have left the odd sense of reality of Silent Hill, and have been placed inside some sort of frozen alternate.

Tai shivers as she lays' upon the organic/frost mixture. Her skin has absorbed a bit too much of the temperature around her, lowering her internal temperature and causing her to shake constantly. She would've awakened by now, were it not for the nightmare occurring inside her head. There she stands, in the middle of a room, disoriented for a few moments, unsure of why she's here and what she need's to do. The air inside the room is antagonistic; every time she breaths, it stings her small throat. Tai looks around and surveys' her surroundings, noticing a door with a peculiar, crystalline handle.

She hesitates from opening the door, but finally with some courage, she open's it and goes through it, right into a bright light. The light clears and there she is, inside a café with Kate and Jennifer. Their both laughing, Jennifer snorts a bit which just causes even more laughter. Tai smiles, thinking that she's just awoken from a nightmare; that she's finally safe.  
"Hey gal's" greets Tai as she smiles at Kate, who oddly, doesn't seem to notice her, instead she just continues to talk with Jennifer, ignorant that Tai's really there.  
"Kate?" asks Tai worriedly, wondering if maybe she's done something wrong.  
It's of no uses, Kate just continues to ignore her. Tai in response, gets out of her chair and walks over to Kate. She lightly taps on Kate's shoulder, who suddenly goes silent. The Entire room goes silent, everyone looking at Tai with odd, bead-like eyes.

Tai is extremely unnerved by this sudden focus on her, preferring the silence if she could've chosen. That's when, Kate slowly turns her head and faces Tai, Tai's face contorting into an expression of pure, unleaded horror. Kate's face is broken, battered, and bruised; blood flows forth from the open wounds on her face; Her smile entirely ghastly, bearing both broken and chipped teeth.  
The ghoul-ish Kate stare's right into Tai, stands up, and hisses "Why'd you let me die Tai?! WHY YOU LET ME DIE?!?!?!" Screeching those last words into Tai's face as it clamps its hands right onto her shoulders.  
Tai is breathless, unable to mutter a single word, or even let out a gasp. All around her, the people slowly turn into ghouls, their faces becoming damaged and misshapen.  
They all chant "You let her die! You let her die! You let her die!" In union as they slowly descend upon her.

All hope seems lost as they slowly, but surely gang up on her. Just then, a loud bang is heard and the Ghoul-Kate's face, is instantly blown off of its shoulders, it's body collapsing into a twitching heap as it hits' the ground. While Tai doesn't seem the even notice this new change of events, the Ghoul's turn and hiss at someone, who's shadow quickly darts across the room and towards Tai. Her hand is gripped upon by this shadow, who in turn fires upon more of the ghouls. She remains unresponsive, feeling numb all over as her mind replays' those cruel, knife-twisting words "You let her die!".  
That's when she hears "Tai! Wake up!" And feels a sort of pain in her neck, which has resulted from the figure shaking her. That's when she snaps out of her delusion and looks up, to find John's face, etched with concern, looking down upon her.

"John..." Mutter's Tai as she glances upon his face.  
John flashes a little smile before returning to his usual serious countenance. He grabs her hand and shouts "Come on!" As he drags her out of the café and away from the hideous ghouls. They run for what seems like miles, their stamina seemingly unlimited, yet surely draining somehow. The shrieks and moans of the ghoul's seem to be ever-present, even as they seem to be distancing themselves from the affronted antagonistic apparitions.  
That's when she begins to hear a slowly growing "Tai...Tai...Tai.." Which becomes louder and louder, until both John and Tai charge their way through a door and into another bright light.

She sits up with a instantaneous shock, lifting her torso away from the cold surface of the Otherworld flooring. She's confused by what she sees, everything is covered in ice and strange, plant-like growth. "Tai!" Is heard as she dart's her head around her surroundings, darting it to the left and immediately seeing Jake. Jake's rough face shines a noticeable expression of concern, looking down onto her as she looks back.  
"Are you all right Tai? I woke up to you muttering in your sleep." Explains Jake as he lay's his left hand on her right shoulder and listens for a reply.  
She stares at him for a bit, before shaking her head a little bit and replying "Y-yeah...just a bad dream..." trailing off at the last word.  
"Alright, I'll take your word for it. Now, come on, on your feet" Directs Jake as he slowly lift's Tai up onto her feet.

When she's finally on her feet, Jake lets go of her and she brushes herself off. Shivering a bit, she looks around the room. Pulsating vines lie beneath their feat, covered in a thin veil of frost.  
Jake pokes the floor with his bat, remarking "What the hell happened?" As the vines react.  
Tai would reply, but she's just as stumped as he is. The last thing she remembers, is hearing some sort of loud, ear-splitting siren.  
Hesitating for a bit, she swallows her fear for a moment, "Let's get out of here, try to figure out where we are", Jake replying "Alright, lead the way".  
She does so, her lead pipe gripped tightly in her hands. She put aside her pistol, placing it inside her right pocket as they went towards the door. Once at the door, she uses her left hand to take hold of the frozen handle. She looks at Jake momentarily for a bit, still unsure. But his nod of acknowledgment, gives her some boost in courage.

She rams the door with her shoulder, causing it to fling forward; remnants of the ice that was coating the door frame, flying into the air and landing upon the floor. Outside, the hallways are covered in even more ice. Crystalline obstructions decorate it. Icicles align the top of the hallway, putting forth an omnipresent sense of danger into the atmosphere. If one of the icicles should be pointed in any sense and fell on top of someone, they could potentially pierce the skin. Since they aren't too high, they couldn't do too much damage, but they'd still wound someone should they fall upon them. The sides of the hallways on the other hand, vary in design. Some are simplistic, no bumps at all and such. On the other hand, patches of ice contain bumps, holes, and many other forms of obtrusion's.

Tai looks to her left and finds out, that the entire western hallway, has collapsed and disappeared into a deep, black abyss. The door's to the rooms to her left, have either dropped into the abyss as well or are hanging off of the frames by an inch. Ice formations protruding from the rooms, spilling out into the empty holes. Knowing that this route isn't accessible anymore, Tai looks to her right and start's walking, having already made certain that the floor is still there. As they pass the storage room, they see that it is heavily entombed in ice. So, that cut's off another potential route. So, Tai decides to go inside the Director's Office, which is strangely, yet luckily, wide open. Inside, it is a sort of chilling scene. The scene laid out in front of both Tai and Jake, is ghastly. The roof in the northern side of the room has collapsed, apparently on something as an odd odor is emanating from the wreckage. With nothing to do at the moment, they stop to consult each other.


	19. Chapter 26

Silent Hill: The Inner Monster  
Page 25  
By John Priest (Efrit, Drake, Noctros, etc)

* * *

*John's Story*

John lies alone on the frozen grating, particles of frost having already made their way onto his body, giving him a light yet visible coating of ice as he remains motionless on top of the metallic grating. He shakes his head constantly, suffering nightmare after nightmare. Unable to distinguish his dreams from reality, it all feels real to him. He hates it, he hates it all.

One nightmare forces him to relive his grandfather's funeral, only, he is fully grown and his family, are decaying husks. Their hisses of toxicity each hit him pin-point onto his heart.  
""Why don't you cry? " Why don't you cry? WHY DON'T YOU CRY? ? ? " Chanting this foul verbal sentence at him, constantly pelting him with the stones of its accusation.  
"Why don't you cry? " "I...I don't know...." replies John as he stares at the horrid figures whom have taken on the form of his family.  
"Why don't you cry? " Hiss the abominations as they slowly inch towards him, the vapors of their breathes visible as a result of their disgusting, bile-infested mouths hissing at him. John can only take a few step backs as the come closer, replying "I don't know".  
Each time they hear this reply, they crawl closer "Why don't you cry? " Hiss the beings as they come closer "I don't know" "Why don't you cry? " Coming closer and closer "I don't know " In which they have finally cornered him "WHY DON'T YOU CRY? " Wails the distorted apparition of his mother, who grasps down onto his shoulders and screams it into his face, pieces of skin and droplets of rotten blood flying onto John's face.  
John sinks onto his knee's, his fear tightening it's grip on him. These beasts continue to chant mercilessly for what seems like eternity. "I...don't...know.....I..don't....KNOW " Yell's John as he swipes with his right arm, knocking the monsters away from himself.

He balls his hands up into fists, tightening fiercely as he glares at the rotting husks. He hates them, why can't they understand? Why must he be sad over a man he never knew? A man who never took the time to even become acquainted with his own grandson? He doesn't want to cry to be sad He just wants to be able to act of his own accord John closes his eyes for one moment "I don't want to cry " And forces them open once more as he brings his arms up, but to his surprise, the monsters are gone. They've simply vanished. No bile, no skin flakes, no droplets of blood....nothing. Even the droplets of blood that fell onto John have disappeared. This new series of events confuses John. That's when, he hears the sounds of a man's laughter.  
"Ha...Ha....H-a...Haha...ha" Echo's the laughter throughout the room.  
John tries to pinpoint the origin of these laughs, but to no avail. He twists himself, trying to perhaps catch the perpetrator unprepared, though finding nothing. He comes to the coffin that seemingly contains the body of his grandfather. Right next to the casket is a mirror, which while odd, isn't uncommon. Sometimes people who've recently lost a loved one, like to look in the mirror and perhaps use, it's reflective power, to implant a good memory into their sight for one moment of joy.

"Ha...ha....ha-aa...hahh....hahhhhhhhhhh" Hisses the laughter all around him.  
These new laughs' further fuel his suspicions and want to find the source. That's when he turns to the mirror and stares at his reflection. He does this for several moments, before thinking of turning away, but as he does, something odd happens. His reflection takes a twisted grin onto its mouth, it's flesh beginning to melt, showing pieces of his muscle alongside some blistered patches of skin.  
"Hahahahaahahah" Laugh's the contorted, twisted reflection, revealing itself to be the source of the laughter. John approaches the mirror "What manner of monster are you?" Inquires John as he looks face to face with the reflection "I'm you, the reeeaallll you " Hisses back the reflection, it's skin darkening as time passes. John brings back his head, his face turning into an expression of disgust at the creatures accusation, alongside it's continuously changing complexion. "You're not I, I'm nowhere like that " "Stop parading around in this charade. You know I am you, you know the truth " Asserts the dark reflection as it continues to laugh at its human counterpart. "Stop...laughing at me " Demands John as the reflections laughter increases. The reflection just continues to laugh at John, finding humor in some unknown source. Fed up, John raises his fist and punches the mirror, shattering it's glass and causing him to stumble into a void. John tries to return to where he once was, but some outside force pushes him through the broken mirror and out into the void, falling and falling helplessly as the light begins to fade.

As John continues to struggle inside his dreams, a mysterious figure walks towards John. The figure is humanoid in appearance, but vastly taller than most people. Its face is mostly featureless, with only a series of stitches being the only noticeable feature. It's rugged, dirty clothes being the only things that touch its leathery, prosthetic-like skin. It bends over, carefully wiping the frost off of John's twitching body. It releases a glowing light from its hand, defrosting John instantly, stopping his convulsions and letting John return to a state of ease. With that done, the figure grabs John's right leg and begins to drag him down the hallway. The hallways the figure drags John down, are a mixture of arctic and metallic themes. No strange obtrusion's are located here, holes being holes with no twisted or misshapen metal inside or surrounding them. The ice taking on shapes of its own, ranging from icicles too oddly, almost face-like patches of frost. Small, cage-like structures holding tiny, skeletal figures, hang down from the ceiling, creating a chillingly haunting scene as they remain there, motionless and twisted into statue-like displays.

The figure then comes to a stop, having arrived at a flight of stairs. Using a moment to come up with a new direction, the figure decides to just keep on moving, stepping down the stairs and dragging John's unconscious body along the way. As this happens, John is still stuck in a mire of his own nightmares. None of them are as ghastly as his most recent one, but they all hold their own effect. One nightmare consists of John being strapped into a chair, being forced to watch a grisly spectacle, consisting of a group of bleeding and horribly bruised children, singing "Ring around the rosy", their flesh decaying faster and faster as they sing the song. It ends with the children becoming nothing more than sacks of bile, stomach juices, and blood, their last words before collapsing upon each other being "anndddd....theyhhhh....alll...falll.....dowwwwwwhhhhnnn!" And then falling down, melting into a large pool of corpse juice as they all laugh, staring at John.

As the figure drags John down the vast, it notices his inner struggle. It pities him, having to endure such torment. But, it knows that such a test of mental endurance, is necessary for what is to come. This place, the Otherworld, is formed from his fears, his regrets, and his sins. The one's who've come before him have been faced with this grim truth and as such, he too will be forced to persevere through it too. Finally, the being comes to a stop, having crossed into a dark room at the bottom of the Slaver's Compound. It drags John into the middle of the room, letting go of his right leg and placing John at his intended destination. It then touches John's head, altering the course echoing in his head into one of it's choosing, so that John may help another. Lastly, before heading out, the being places a pair of burnt, crispy leather gloves on John's chest and departs from the room, disappearing into a combination of mist and darkness.

John open's his eyes as a new dream starts, finding himself inside of a alley way. A dreary, achromatic colored sky greets his eyes as they open up and take in his surroundings. For some reason, John doesn't seem to want to get up. It's like, he'd rather prefer to just lye here, letting time past and perhaps get some rest. But something feels wrong, something is wailing in the back of his head to get up and explore, to get up and get far away from his current location. Not wanting to offer any real resistance, John gets to his feet and stands up, gripping one of the surrounding walls for support. He exits the alley and goes out into the street, finding it desolate with no signs of life. He slowly makes his way across the street, looking around for anything that may give him some clarity. Unfortunately, nothing comes up. The western side of the street is blocked with an assortment of cars and various other vehicles. The eastern side has an open abyss, but with chunks of concrete still forming small, yet accessible platforms for anyone to traverse.

Figuring it to be his only path out of the current area, John makes his way to the eastern side, arriving at the platforms and slowly beginning to cross them. He takes his steps carefully, making sure to have a good place for his feet. He crosses ten or so platforms before coming to an end, being met by an open door. He's a bit cautious about entering the doorway, remembering what happened when he entered the broken mirror, but he eventually does enter it and goes through, entering a new building. Inside, from the various stuff around, he makes the guess that he's in some sort of coffee shop. He walks inside of the backroom, glancing around it in case there's anything that might interest him. When he gets to a door, he looks down and strangely, finds a gun on the floor. He takes out the clip, finding only one round inside of it. Unsure, but unwilling to go back, he chambers the one round and grips it firmly inside his right hand as he opens the door.

Inside, he see's Tai standing near a table, an expression of horror highlighting her face. Beside her, several ghouls are chanting at her, accusing her of letting one of them die. Not letting them get to her, John shoots the gun in his hand, hitting one of the ghouls in the head and killing it.  
He runs over to Tai, telling her to come with him, but she doesn't reply.  
He shakes her, trying to get her attention, finally managing to, saying "Come on" and smiling before returning to his usual expression.  
He grabs one of her arms and forces her to follow him, running through a pair of double doors and out into another area. They continue to run for quite some time, not even looking back to see if they are still being pursued, they just keep on running. That's when, when they charge through one last door, a bright light absorbs them.

John awakes with a jolt, sweat oozing down his flesh. He wipes his forehead and takes a deep, icy breath.  
"Tai....are you still alive?" Questions John as he stares into the darkness in front of him.  
He places his hands into his laps, feeling a bit surprised as he feels the touch of leather against his hands. He grabs the source of this new feeling and finds a pair of gloves. Holding them in his right hand, he inspects them a bit before placing them inside his right pocket and standing up. With nothing but darkness in his sight, he turns on his flashlight and starts to look around.


	20. Chapter 27

Silent Hill: The Inner Monster  
Page 26  
By John Priest (Efrit, Drake, Noctros, etc)

* * *

*Tai's story*

"What do you think we should do, Tai?" Questions Jake, staring at her as he awaits an answer.  
To be frank, she has no real idea on what to do now. She's been completely dumbfounded by the plane they've been transported into. Anxiety courses through her veins as the chilling atmosphere around them continues to lower the temperature of their bodies, slowly forcing a gloomy, foreboding feeling unto Tai's conscious. She treads carefully inside the room, making sure to look around so she won't be ambushed by any hidden monsters.

"Tai, you listening?" Asks Jake in a mild tone, as he looks at Tai and wonders what she's doing, a bit annoyed due to her lack of immediate action.  
"Hm? Oh, yeah...just...thinking..." Explains Tai as she notices Jake.  
What should they do? They could dig through the rubble located in the north part of the room, but if they do that, they may chance an encounter with a number of monsters, who may be waiting above the collapsed roof. But, then again, she's been surprised before on how oddly placed some important items are in this town, assuming she's still in Silent Hill. As such, she may discover a new item that could help her on her journey.

"I think....maybe we should see what may be under that rubble" Directs Tai as she points to the collapsed ceiling.  
Jake's brow rises curiously, clearly showing that he questions her decision "You do realize that, the very perch above the remains of the ceiling, has a damn good chance of containing a monster on it, right?"  
"Listen, I know that, alright? If you don't want to come, you don't have to." Asserts Tai with her eyebrows raising in accordance to her shrug, in which she moves away from him, intending to go to her desired location.

This sudden assertion of dominance aggravates Jake, causing him to sternly walk towards her and nearly force her to turn around. But he stops himself as he comes close to her, swallowing his anger and letting out a small, barely audio-able huff of air from his nose as he suppresses it. Tai doesn't really hear him or his huff, having shifted her focus onto the task implanted in her mind. As such, she just keeps on walking, arriving at her destination in a matter of seconds, oblivious to what has just occurred with Jake. Jake on the other hand, has taken residence upon a lonely chair, not wishing to be near her. He can't figure her out. Why is she so mistrusting of him? He's helped her countless times, shouldn't that be more than enough proof that she can trust him? Then, their's her clear unsteadiness around him. What could have possibly have made her so wary of him? Is it because he's black? Jake balls his hands into a couple of thick, strong fists as this thought races through his mind. But, as fast as it came into his mind, it dissipates and he let's go of it.

He stares at her as she begins to search through the rubble, only offering a distant hand in case something bad happens. As he contemplates the possible things about him that may make her wary of him, Tai is scrounging through the rubble. She made sure to look above her as she came into view of the gaping hole above her, checking for monsters before starting her search. Satisfied with how things looked, she began. Her stomach lurches and contorts as she is forced to endure a horrid, nauseating smell as she searches. That's when, she comes upon a grisly discovery. A humanoid shape, partially decayed. The top half of its torso and up has been frozen, so necrosis hasn't been able to touch upon that area. She comes to her feet in a jolt of energy, repulsed by the hideousness infront of her.

Meanwhile, Jake has begun to doze off, almost fully asleep before Tai's sudden activity is caught in the corner of his eye and catches his attention. He arches his right eyebrow in curiosity, wondering what possibly could be her reason for such an action. He walks over to her slowly, taking his time, yawing as he closes in "What'd you find?"  
"J-just...that" responds Tai as she points towards the corpse.  
"Yikes. Poor bastard." Comments Jake as he pokes and prods the frozen corpse, feeling a minor pang of sorrow for the unfortunate victim that lay's before both he and Tai.  
Jake looks up at Tai, waiting for any possible comments, but her mouth remains still. So, with a decision in his head, he tightly grips the shoulders of the figure and pulls. It takes a lot of effort, since the figure is trapped under so much rubble, but Jake manages to pull it out and out into the open.

Just as it comes out, the corpse's stomach rumbles a bit before exploding, horrid fumes being shot up into the air, covering the room like a poacher's net. Tai is lucky enough in that her tender reflexes activate instantly, in which she instinctively turns a 180-degree angle and covers her nose from the horrid fumes. Jake isn't as lucky, having been still in close proximity of the body. As a result, his face and nose are both blasted by the cold, blistering fumes of the corpse. Jake instantly falls to the ground in a heap, cursing and gagging, barely able to control his stomach from emptying out onto the floor around him. He spins on the floor, moving erratically as he tries to regain his composure, but to no avail.  
"Jake!" Reacts Tai as she rushes to his side and tries to help him.  
Jake loses control of his stomach for a moment, accidently spewing out a little bit of his own bile onto the floor, almost onto Tai. Deciding he needs something to ease him, Tai looks for a drink. She finds one in her left pocket, taking it out and taking off the lid. She then pours it all over his face, trying to wash the clinch of the fumes away.

It works luckily, allowing Jake the ability to sit up and wipe his face with his hands, wiping the remnants of the fumes mixed with the liquid inside of Medical Health Drinks off his face and onto the floor.  
He shakes his head, regaining some of his composure as everything seems to go back into place "Thanks Tai" says Jake as he wipes his face with his big, burly hand once more.  
"No problem..." Responds Tai with a light, almost invisible smile. But Jake sees the smile, and responds with one of his own.  
They both quickly resume what they were doing previously: Inspecting the rubble and the body they found inside of it. Tai volunteers to look at the corpse since Jake just got sprayed with the stink that laid dormant inside of it, but he gently shakes away her offer, knowing that he has a stronger stomach than she, which is required for what he has in mind.

Not wishing to strain or stress him, Tai agrees albeit hesitantly. While she heads over to the rubble, Jake crawls over to the body and gets onto his knees before grabbing a broken piece of glass and using it to cut open more of the stomach. Inside, only mush is seemingly present. It's likely, that since the upper torso was frozen, that it was more exposed the surrounding arctic atmosphere, while the lower torso and below were separated from it by the massive amounts of rubble, which acted as a sort of makeshift barrier to separate the frost from consuming the rest of the body. As a result, when the body was finally made whole once more, the conflicting temperatures and decaying remnants inside of the body, cultivated inside of the stomach and exploded after a few moments.

After a few moments of prodding around inside of the stomach, Jake finds something. Unsure of what it is, he uses the glass to wipe away the surrounding mush, managing to clear away enough of it to get a good gripping point on the object. Placing his hand inside of the corpse's stomach, he grips the object and quickly pulls it out, trying his best to avoid the insides out of disgust. With the item in hand, Jake brings it up close and finds a key. Perplexed by his find, he takes to Tai. Tai in the meantime, has had an easier time with finding stuff. While searching the rubble, she founds a varying amount of papers, each having clear, legible writing on them.  
"Find anything?" Asks Jake in a calm, questioning manner  
"Yeah, a couple pieces of paper. You?" Responds Tai in an equally curious manner, albeit slightly more timid.  
With those words exchanged, they both show each other what they've found. They both agree that the key is important and should be kept, but they are unsure about the pieces of paper that Tai found. So, being curious, Tai reads both notes aloud.

" ----- f-u-d the key I- the –a pot, what I- w-s doing there, I don't —w. –e told me to hide it securely, saying that the –b-ing would be done later on. I don't know why — continues to play a charade on these idiots, but whatever — plan is, I just hope — gets it over with soon.  
---- Timothy Kasik"  
Some major parts of this piece, have been damaged badly, making some important words, indistinguishable. But, luckily, the next piece has not been damaged too badly.

" Shit, shit, shit, shit! Someone's heard our plan. — told me —'d handle it, but I'm not sure. I know, I'll get my gun, kill the old man myself. We can then -------- the ------- and get the hell out of this damn town. I just hav--(The rest has been torn and muddled with blood)"

"What do you make of these notes, Jake?" Question Tai as she looks at him, not sure what to think herself considering all the missing words and letters, which have all been obscured by either dirt, dust, rips, or blood.  
"*Sigh* Not sure. Personally, I think we should get out of here for now, try to figure out what they both mean later on. Hopefully, in a safer environment." Responds Jake as he moves over to the rubble.  
Tai nods her head in agreement, feeling unsafe in the room too. When Jake gets to the rubble, he finds a secure spot and places his feet on it, making sure that it won't give away under more pressure. With his mind satisfied "I'll go up first, in case something's up there. Don't run off, okay?" Jokes Jake, climbing up before Tai could retort a proper rebuttal.  
After a few moments, she hears "Clear" coming from above, signaling for her to come up. She uses the same spot as Jake, securing her feet at the same place, before climbing herself. She's halfway there before she hears "Turn around" and obeys it, turning around a bit so that she doesn't lose her grip and fall. She comes face to face with Jake's hands, which are opened out for her to jump into. With this gesture present, she reluctantly accepts it, lunging into his hands and being lifted onto the floor, safe and sound.


	21. Chapter 28

Silent Hill: The Inner Monster

Page 27

By John Priest (Noctros, Efrit, Drake, etc)

* * *

*John's story*

As Tai and her companion Jake manage to continue their voyage through the Otherworld they have been trapped in, John hasn't had as much luck. He's been confined inside this room, unable to get out or find a way around the locked door which is hindering his progress. The inability to move on ahead has gotten to John, aggravating him as if he was being bitten by a flea. He's already tried breaking through the door down with his Emergency Hammer, but since the door is composed of a strong iron alloy, it was to no avail.

He paces throughout the room, trying to concoct any possible solution to his current dilemma. After several minutes, he still cannot come up with one and in frustration, slams his right hand on a nearby wall, causing something to let off a sound. Even though he was being fueled by his rage, John still managed to catch that sound and in curiosity, slams his hand on the same wall, once again causing the nose to occur. He repeats this, slowly treading across the wall until he comes to an odd, tore-up painting.

He grips both sides of the painting with his hands and removes it from its perch, revealing a little stone marker. Curious, he slightly pokes at the odd concrete protrusion, which in effect, causes the marker to tip over and reveal a small, circular indentation. John's touch causes the indentation to sink, an odd loud echoing noise being let out from the direction of the door that bars his path. He cautiously approaches the door, Emergency Hammer gripped tightly in both of his hands. He frees his right hand from it's tight hold on the hammer and uses it to slowly twist the door's handle. Slowly, he open's the door, his right shoulder planted firmly against its iron layer. He then bursts through the door, using his right shoulder to throw the door against the wall and possibly into the path of any awaiting monsters. But it hits none, revealing John's path to be clear.

John hunches the Emergency Hammer upon his right shoulder, gripping its handle tightly with his right hand. He uses his free left hand to make sure that the contents of his duffel bag are still intact. Satisfied with his quick check, he marches on ahead across the barren, frost-covered metal grating. Each footstep scatters the underlying frost beneath his feet, lessening the chance of him tripping. But John still tries to be careful, his caution being fueled by a mixture of paranoia and unease. He's fully aware of his own paranoia, feeling that it is justified in the sense that he's been trapped inside this surrounding arctic hell.

The ensuing survey inside the long, cage-like hallway, only serves to further deepen John's belief in that this world is toying with him. Occasionally, he hears the sounds of anothers footsteps. The footsteps being softer, yet somehow even more audible than his own. He takes a few glances to his right and a few to his left, trying to do it un-suspiciously so that he doesn't alert the being that may be stalking him. He'd consider these footsteps as mere paranoia, perhaps a simple trick of the mind, but he knows better. He made sure to remember how the frost he walked past looked, and always noticed how it'd be scattered as if someone or more appropriately, something, was following him.

Eventually, John forces himself to ignore the unease he is feeling and tries to move on, focusing on the environment around him, taking in its perplexing landscape. Looking through the hallways grating makes John queasy. He hates heights, contradictory to what people may think when they see his tall stature. In fact, his height only serves to further deepen his fear of heights. Yet, for some reason he cannot explain, he finds the prospect of windy mountain tops and high-up areas, to be beautiful in a way. Natural, serene, calming, and soothing are the words he'd use if asked to describe them. Yet this overlaying structure, above a seemingly endless pit with an eerie, barely visible blue glow, covered by a thick fog which seems to act like a form of a barrier between those above it and those below it, fills John with a profound sense of dread.

When he looks above through the grating over his head, he can only see darkness. The same can be said of the areas to his left and his right, which seem to harbor no walls, only a hollow space, devoid of corporeal matter. It perplexes John how this structure can remain afloat. There seems to be nothing tethering it to any form of matter. He smiles a bit, realizing how idiotic he's been. He's been applying real, sane life physics to this odd, insane domain. He'd likely had continued to dwell on this matter had he not just reached the end of the hallway, opening the accompanying door and heading right through it as he tries to escape the feeling of being pursued.

Once through the door, John feels as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He still has his paranoia, but it isn't as severe as it was during the hallway. He lets out an audible sigh, taking in another breath of air and focusing his mind. He walks slowly, making sure to examine every little detail he can. The room he is in, is less metallic as its predecessor yet almost as cage-like, exuding out a constant aura of oppression. Two windows of medium height placement are the only openings inside of the room, letting through a look into the space outside of the room. Having already seen enough of that bluish void to last him a lifetime, John instantly decides to avoid the windows on account of what may have been following him and what could possibly be awaiting him should he let his curiosity get the best of him.

No real furniture exists in the room John is in, only a few oddly placed obtrusion's coming out of the "floor" align together in his view. Patches of frost occupy various spots on the floor, having come through the windows above them. John shivers slightly, putting his arms together and rubbing each other mildly, so he can warm himself up and raise his body temperature. Each breath he has let out takes on a vapor-like form as it exits his mouth, showing just how cold his surroundings truly are. He rubs his arms a few more times before ceasing his previous activity, and proceeding to look around the room for any possible clues or items of interest. For a few minutes, his search appears to be fruitless, bearing no positive results for him.

John decides to take a break away from his search, his body already feeling the chill of his surroundings once more. He locates a suitable perch, it being one of the many obtrusion's located inside of the room, using it as a seat. He goes to sit down on it, ready to rest his agitated legs, but when he finally puts his weight on top of the obtrusion, it shatters. He goes down hard, landing on top of something. He lets out an incredibly audible curse in response to his latest misfortune. He gets off of his bottom after sitting down at the spot for a couple seconds, dusting himself off and turning around to see what he had the unfortunate luck to land on. He finds a box of pistol ammo together with a small, metallic key. With no label or tag, John can only guess as to what this key may go to.

Deciding he has spent enough time in this room, not wishing to possibly lure any unforseen forces to himself, John exits out of the room to the left, going through the door and onto a ramp. The ramp slowly elevates farther and farther into the air, making it clear that it leads to higher ground. The ramp, made of grated metal and patterned frost, adds to the frozen atmosphere that surrounds him. Walking up the ramp, John can't help but to feel a need to look around, to make sure that he's safe. Something about this place, just unnerves him. From the floating mist in the air, to the darkness around him, with only a dark blue light beneath him being the only source of illumination besides his own flashlight.

John notices an array of noises circling about. Soft, unspoken laughter. Weak, child-like sobbing. The constant wailing of the voices around him dig deep into John's skin. Causing it to crawl, unnerving him further and further as he ascends into the next level. He comes to a sudden halt at the iron door, hesitating as his hand firmly grips the door knob. He isn't sure why, but he's suddenly been entrenched by a sudden sense of dread. Perhaps it's the voices echoing all around him. Perhaps it's the knob's frigid feel to his touch. Whatever it is, John takes a moment to gather his courage and proceeds to trudge through the doorway.

Once he makes his way through it, he strongly slams the door shut behind him, placing his back onto it for a moment before resuming his trek through this strange, twisted, and preserved area.  
The room he's entered is fairly normal for the area he's in. Covered in varying amounts of frost, icicles hanging up above him, etc. Nothing particularly noticeable. So, John spends a few minutes inside the room, moving around some of the "furniture" to see if he can find anything, but his search comes up fruitless. He decides to leave the room to explore on ahead, but he is caught in a dilemma. Two doors, two paths. Which one does he take? He ponders this issue for a moment or two before settling with an adequate decision. He goes with the door to his left, located at the western half of the room.

Same as before, the hallway is composed of open iron grating, showing the surrounding world to all potential observers. Various obtrusion's align the floor, sometimes forcing him to force his way past them as he walks down through the hallway. He can see various room ahead, which stick out like sore thumbs when connected to the grated iron hallway. They are made up mostly of solid metal, with things like windows being the only openings on them. The first several doors he comes to have broken locks or have been barricaded from the inside. But luckily, the fourth door he comes to, on his right, is not broken or barricaded. He crosses through the doorway and into the room itself, shutting the door behind him as he trudges forward.

In the room, cages seem to litter the floor, emitting some sort of putrid stench as they lay still. All John can really do, is cover his nose and hope to make this a quick visit. He searches throughout the room, uncovering a couple health drinks in return for his curiosity. Happy, he continues his search, eventually coming to a dilapidated heap of scrap metal. He looks' around the heap, trying to pinpoint any possible interesting things. For a moment, he cannot for the life of him locate anything. But, after prodding the heap with his hammer a few times, he notices a tiny little glint emanating from a bronze-colored object. With a single moment of slight hesitation, he slowly plunges his hand into the heap and grips the mystery item with his hand. He quickly closes his hand and pulls his hand out of the heap. He moves his hand into a viewable position and opens it, revealing a key with the label "containment".

As he was preoccupied with this matter, the darkness around him slowly grew darker. Phantoms emerging, shadows casting, and figures crawling out from oblivion itself. John smiles for a bit, but his smile quickly dissipates and his soul is frozen with fear as his ears are assaulted by a moist gurgling coming forth from behind him. His eyes open wide and his lungs exhale all oxygen as he slowly turns his head and the phantoms lunge.


End file.
